
Class 
Book. 






GopyiightN® 

CDElfRIGHT DEPOSm 




THE ART OF ACTING 

and 
PUBLIC READING 





1 



THE ART OF ACTING 

AND 

PUBLIC READING 

DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 



By 
ROLLO ANSON TALLCOTT 

Professor of Publk Speaking and Dramatic Art 
in Butler College, Indianapolis, Indiana 



sxa 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS- MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright, 1922 ^- ' 
By the Bodbs-Mereill Company 






Printed in the United States of America. 



OCT 16 ^22 

'C1A686319 



To 

My Mother 
Harriet Isadore Tallcott 



PREFACE 

This book has been written in response to a demand 
for some text that will outline a course of instruction 
leading to professional work. It takes up the work of 
Acting and Public Reading, and presupposes thorough 
training on the part of the student in common read- 
ing and speech mechanics. It is for the advanced 
student in the normal school, the college, the profes- 
sional school of oratory, or the private studio. 

The purpose of the book is to set forth a comprehen- 
sive classification of the different ways of presenting 
various types of literature, taking into consideration 
the author's purpose and the class of audience to be 
entertained. It is my belief that such a classification 
can be made and that it may become a useful guide in 
maintaining a standard of consistency among readers, 
entertainers and actors so that there may be less harsh 
criticism which the average elocution teacher feels 
moved to make upon the propriety of this or that fea- 
ture of an entertainment. 

In taking up this classification, let me say that I do 
not hope to have it accepted as infallible or as the 
only classification possible, but I do hope that it will 
give the young platform artist a clearer conception of 
his field so that he will not encroach upon the actor's 
art in the name of public reading. 

It is my purpose to show among other things that a 
study of the actor's art is fundamentally essential to 



PREFACE 

a complete understanding of the reader's art and that 
no public reader can be truly suggestive unless he has 
first been given the opportunity to express completely 
and conscientiously all action that he hopes ultimately 
to suggest. 

One of my best friends in the profession maintains 
that good taste is the only standard we may safely fol- 
low in carrying out our individual styles of entertain- 
ing. This might be true were it not for the fact that 
there are many talented entertainers who lack natural 
discernment and good taste, and who beUeve that any 
method of presentation which brings a laugh or hearty 
applause is acceptable. It is for such that a standard 
classification is necessary. It may even prove helpful 
to those champions of good taste who differ with their 
fellow entertainers as to what is really good taste. 
While it is true that good taste might govern the ma- 
jority, it is just as true that there are other determining 
factors which enter into the presentation of literature 
and make it more effective. 

I am indebted to Miss Mae Belle Adams of Emer- 
son College of Oratory and to Professor H. M. Tilroe 
and Mrs. Florence Butler of Syracuse University for 
my early instruction in fundamental principles of in- 
terpretation ; to Professor Fredrick D. Losey of New 
York City, whose technical instruction and whose pro- 
fessional work in Shakespearian readings have always 
been a source of inspiration to me; to Professor I. L. 
Winter of Harvard University and to Professor 
Arthur E. Phillips of Chicago, whose training in voice 
culture and the principles of practical public speaking 



PREFACE 

has been invaluable; to Ernest Elton of New York 
and to Donald Robertson of Chicago, whose instruc- 
tion in acting gave me the actor's point of view and 
first led me to see the true relationship that acting 
bears to public speaking and public reading, and per- 
haps most of all I am indebted to Professor S. H. 
Clark of Chicago University for many valuable sug- 
gestions relating to the classifications set forth in this 
book. 

I also take occasion here to express my appreciation 
for the careful reviewing of my manuscript which 
Professor Ephraim Eisenberg of New York Univer- 
sity has given. 

R. A. T. 

Butler University, 

Indianapolis, Indiana. 



INTRODUCTION 

General Remarks. — All art is suggestive but some 
is more suggestive than others. There seems to be an 
assumption on the part of a few teachers of elocution 
that the more suggestive presentation is the more 
truly artistic. This is not true. Up to a certain point 
realism is as artistic as suggestion but in a different 
way. Acting is much more realistic than Reading but 
it is no less an art, for with all the attempts at realism, 
acting is still highly suggestive. 

Any art seeks to bring out essentials and to omit all 
that is not essential. If it were possible to reproduce 
life on the stage exactly, it would not be art. A photo- 
graph untouched by the artist's hand is not art — it is 
science. It reproduces exactly non-essentials as well 
as essentials. A good painting of the same object is 
art for it reproduces only the essentials of color, form 
and perspective, and gives the impression of a real 
reproduction. A crayon drawing of the same object 
leaves out the realistic element of color and depends a 
little more upon the imagination of the beholder. A 
line drawing of the same object in pen and ink leaves 
out shading and depends still more upon suggestion. 
All these forms of art are suggestive but in different 
degrees and from different points of view. Similarly 
the »actor may be compared to the painter, aad the 
reader to the illustrator. As the painter with the use 
of color is the most realistic of artists, so the actor 



INTRODUCTION 

with the use of make-up, costumes, scenery, furniture, 
etc., is the most realistic of his class of artists. As the 
illustrator eliminating color makes the carefully 
shaded crayon drawing, so the reader, without make- 
up, costume, properties, etc., in personating presents 
his characterization in literal action. As the illustra- 
tor in still more suggestive drawing eliminates further 
the element of shading and by mere pen and ink, broad 
line suggestion makes a cartoon, or exaggerated com- 
edy sketch, so the reader in impersonative reading 
eliminates literal action and portrays his comedy or 
eccentric characters in voluntary vocal adaptation and 
facial characterization-. As the illustrator in most 
highly suggestive form and perspective makes the pen 
and ink sketch for serious rather than comedy effect, 
so the reader in pure reading eliminates further vocal 
and facial characterization and becomes most highly 
suggestive in his portrayal of character moods, and 
in his presentation of description and narration. 

Purpose. — The following chapters will give an ex- 
position of the essential factors in the presentation of 
literature through Acting, Personating, Impersonative 
Reading and Pure Reading; it will classify the types 
of literature and the kinds of audiences best suited to 
various styles of presentation, and it will suggest 
methods of study. 

These types of delivery will be taken up in the order 
of their progression from realistic presentation on the 
stage to the most highly suggestive presentation on 
the public platform. 

Explanation of Diagrams. — In order that the 



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INTRODUCTION 

relationship which the Actor and the Reader bear to 
each other and to their respective types of presentation 
n^ay be clearly understood, it is compared by diagram 
to the relationship which the Painter and the Illustra- 
tor bear to each other and to their respective kinds of 
art. 

(I.) Comparison in Diagram Figure A. It will be 
observed that a strong dividing line separates the art 
of the Actor from the art of the Reader, and that the 
same line extended down the page also separates the 
art of the Painter from the art of the Illustrator. This 
heavy line has a special significance in that it repre- 
sents for the entertainer the point of departure from 
the use of properties and all stage accessories, while 
for the artist it represents the point of departure from 
the use of color. 

The Actor is likened to the Painter in that each does 
his work as realistically as possible. The Actor with 
all stage accessories does his work through acting 
with action and characterization complete in every es- 
sential detail, first, in the play with fellow actors, and 
second, in the Soliloquy, a slightly less realistic and 
more imaginative selection in its purpose, alone on 
the stage. The Painter by the use of color does his 
work through painting with realistic representation of 
nature's colors, form and perspective first, in Detailed 
Art, and second, in Impressionistic Art, which is 
slightly less realistic and more imaginative in its pur- 
pose. In the actor's art the key-note is the primary 
necessity for scene, properties and stage effects, while 
the key-note for the painter's art is the necessity ior 
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INTRODUCTION 

Passing to the right of the dividing line in the 
diagram, the Reader, who always works alone, with- 
out the aid of make-up, properties or stage accessories 
of any kind, does his work in three ways, namely, 
through personating, through imp er sanative reading 
or through pure reading, while the Illustrator, with- 
out the use of color, does his work in three ways, 
namely, through light and shade drawing, through 
hroad lines in caricature and through detail line draw- 
ings. The reader in personating recognizes the key- 
note, literal action, w^hile the illustrator recognizes as 
his key-note in light and shade drawing, the necessity 
for perfectly blended high lights and shadows, perfect 
form and perfect perspective. For both the reader 
and the illustrator this is a step toward suggestion and 
a step away from realism and attention to detail. The 
reader in impersonative reading departs from literal 
action and retains only vocal and facial characteriza- 
tion in recognizing the key-note, comedy or eccentric 
characterization, while the illustrator in broad line, 
caricature drawing also recognizes eccentric charac- 
terization as his key-note and departs from perfectly 
blended light and shade, using only rough lines with- 
out much regard for perspective. The last step toward 
highly suggestive art and away from realism is pure 
reading for the reader and detail line drawing for the 
illustrator. Here the reader departs entirely from ex- 
ternal characterization or eccentric comedy and de- 
pends solely upon the expression of mood which is 
recognized as the key-note and is expressed through 
involuntary vocal changes, suggestive action including 



INTRODUCTION 

subjective gesture and facial expression. The illus- 
trator recognizes mood as his key-note also and ex- 
presses it in perfect suggestion of perspective and 
form in line drawings of a serious rather than humor- 
ous nature. 

(2.) Comparison in Diagram Figure B. In Fig- 
ure B the shaded area represents the proportion of 
realistic presentation in the successive kinds of deliv- 
ery, acting, personating, impersonative reading and 
pure reading as it decreases correspondingly with the 
increase of suggestiveness represented by the un- 
shaded area. The same proportion exists in passing 
from painting to detailed line drawing. 
(S-) Significance of Diagram Figure C. Figure 
C presents to the eye a means of visualizing the two 
classifications for Action and Voice. It is to be under- 
stood that the terms Suggestive and Literal apply to 
all action including the zonal classification. 



CONTENTS 



PART ONE 

Acting 
chapter page 

I General Discussion ...... 1 

Definition 1 

Relationship to Reading 3 

Limit of Discussion 6 

Types of Literature Suitable for Acting 7 

II The Play * 8 

Definition 8 

Kinds of Plays ....... 8 

Limit of Discussion 11 

Technique of Presentation .... 12 

1. The Setting ...... 12 

2. Kinds of Furniture . . . .13 

3. Properties 14 

4. Grouping of Characters . . 15 

5. Mechanical Effects . . . . 15 

6. Lighting Effects .... 16 

7. Concerning Make-up and Cos- 

tumes 20 

III The Play (continued) 23 

Technique of Presentation (continued) 23 

8. General Stage Business ... 23 

9. Detailed Business .... 36 

10. Individual License in Business 39 

11. Silent Acting 39 

a. Unobtrusive Silent Acting 40 

b. Aggressive Silent Acting 41 

12. The Speaking of Lines ... 41 

13. Asides 45 

14. Soliloquies 47 

Literary Presentation of Plays ... 48 



CONTENTS— Cow^mw^fl? 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IV The One Character Play^ or Soliloquy 50 

Definition 50 

Comparison of the Soliloquy and the 

Aside within the Play .... 51 

The Relative Importance of Scenery 

and Furniture . 52 

Excerpts from Plays for the Platform 53 

Technique of Presentation .... 55 

V Illustrative Matter 57 

From the Play Requiring Two or More 

Characters 57 

Illustration from the One Character 

Play 59 

Brief Summary .63 

VI Rehearsing Beginners ..... 65 
General Remarks . . . . . .65 

Selecting the Cast 66 

Reading Rehearsal — General Business 

Given 68 

Act by Act Procedure 69 

Memorizing Lines and Cues .... 69 

Detailed Business 69 

Property Rehearsal 71 

Polish . , . 73 

Dress Rehearsal with Effects ... 79 

Final Rehearsal 80 

A Final Word 81 



PART TWO 

Reading 

VII General Discussion 87 

Definition of Reading 87 

The Relationship of Reading to Acting 87 



C0NTE1<^TS— Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

1. The Arts Themselves ... 87 

2. The Artists Compared ... 88 
The Three Types of Presentation for 

the Reader 95 

1. Personating . . . . . .95 

2. Impersonative Reading ... 95 

3. Pure Reading 96 

The Determining Factors in Making the 

Subdivisions ....... 96 

1. The Author's Purpose ... 96 

2. The Literary Composition . . 97 

3. Method of Qassifying a Selec- 

tion Quickly 99 

General Limitations in Attitude and in 

Sex 101 

1. Bearing in Reading (Pure or Im- 
personative) Compared to Bear- 
ing in Personating .... 101 
2. Sex Limitation in Personating and 

in Reading 103 

VIII Personating . ....... 105 

Definition Elaborated 105 

Type of Selection for Personating . . 105 

1. The Personation 105 

Vocal Features of Personating . . 112 
1. Voluntary Adaptation of Voice 

to Characterization . . . .112 

a. Conscious Change in the 

Four Elements: Quality, 
Force, Pitch and Time . 112 

b. Conscious Imitation of 

Speech Mechanics in Pro- 
ducing Dialects . . .115 

c. Conscious Imitation of Lo- 

cal and Provincial Speech 117 



CO^TENTS—Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

d. Conscious Imitation of 

Speech Defects . . .120 

e. Song Imitation . . . 121 
2. Involuntary Change of Voice Ex- 
pressing the Varying Moods . 121 

Actional Features of Personating . .122 

1. Literalness in All Action . . . 122 

2. Technique of Action in Personat- 

ing 124 

The Use of a Chair and Personal Prop- 
erties 128 

Treatment of Personation within Per- 
sonating 130 

The Treatment of Vocal Imitation with- 
in Personating 132 

The Use of Literal Song in Personating 133 
Relation of Personating to Impersona- 
tive Reading 134 

IX Impersonative Reading 135 

Definition Elaborated 135 

Type of Selection Suitable for Imper- 
sonative Reading .135 

1. The Character Reading . . .135 

Vocal Features of Impersonative Read- 
ing 137 

Actional Features of Impersonative 
Reading 137 

Stationary Position of the Reader in 
Impersonative Reading .... 140 

Treatment of Personation within Im- 
personative Reading 141 

Treatment of Vocal Imitation within 
Impersonative Reading .... 142 

The Use of Song in Impersonative 
Reading 143 

The Treatment of First Person Narra- 
tive 144 



CONTEISITS— Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

X Pure Reading 146 

Definition Elaborated 146 

Type of Selecton for Pure Reading . 147 
1. The Interpretative Reading . .147 

Vocal Features of Pure Reading . . 148 

Actional Features of Pure Reading . 150 
Treatment of Mood Representation 

within Normal Characterization . 153 
Treatment of Vocal Imitation in Pure 

Reading 154 

The Suggestion of Song in Pure Read- 
ing 156 

First and Third Person Narrative . 158 

XI The Varied Treatment of Types . . 161 
Selections for Either Impersonative or 

Pure Reading 161 

Selections Unmistakable in Classifica- 
tion 162 

Selections Impossible to Classify as 

Readings 164 

1. The Burlesque 164 

2. The Inconsistent Composition . 165 

3. Stunts, or Imitations .... 166 

4. Ventriloquism 166 



PART THREE 

Method of Study 

XII General Discussion 171 

Introductory Statement 171 

The Development of Human Expression 174 
The Development of the Art of Pure 

Reading 176 

The Law of Suggestive Action . .178 

The Law of Vocal Changes . . . 180 



CONTENTS — Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIII Suggestions for Study 182 

In the Play with Others .... 182 

In the SoHloquy Alone 184 

The Soliloquy for Personating . . . 185 
The Monologue for Personating . .187 
The Eccentric Address for Personating 188 
The Character Series for Personating 189 
The Character Soliloquy and the Char- 
acter Monologue for Impersonative 

Reading 190 

The Character Play for Impersonative 

Reading 191 

The Character Narrative for Imper- 
sonative Reading 192 

Interpretative Readings, Including Sub- 
forms for Pure Reading .... 192 
How to Work out Any Selection for 
Public Presentation . . . . . 193 

XIV Choice of Selection 196 

The Student's Difficulty .... 196 

New Selections or Old 198 

Where to Find New Material ... 199 
How to Recognize Good Material for 

Adaptation 199 

Cutting the Selection 201 

Preparing the Selection for Delivery . 202 

XV Choice of Professional Training . . 208 

Introductory 208 

Suggested Course for the Actor . . 209 
Suggested Course for the Reader . . 210 
Suggested Course for the Public 

Speaker 210 

A Word about the Preliminary Courses 211 



CONTENTS— Concluded 

PAGE 

Appendix 215 

Definition of Class Types . . . .215 

1. The Artists Defined . . . .215 

2. The x\rts Defined . ... 216 

3. Types of Literature Defined . 217 
Definition of Voice and Action . .219 

1. Action Defined According to 

Bodily Zones 220 

2. Action Defined According to its 

Literalness and Suggestiveness 221 

3. Voice Defined 222 

Definition of Forms of Composition . 222 

Definition of Mood and Atmosphere . 224 



PART ONE 
Acting 



THE ART OF ACTING 
AND PUBLIC READING 



CHAPTER I 

GENERAL DISCUSSION 

Definition. — The term acting must not be con- 
fused with the term action which refers to all bodily 
expression including gesture, facial expression, poise 
and carriage. Acting is the art of presenting litera- 
ture in the form of a Play or a Soliloquy. The char- 
acters are here assumed by an equal number of persons 
and are played in appropriate make-up, wigs, beards 
and costume while making use of essential properties 
and furniture in a setting of special scenery. The sit- 
uations are made as realistic as possible with the aid 
of mechanical devices imitating wind, rain and thun- 
der, together with the electrical appliances that furnish 
the different light effects. 

In acting, as little as possible of detailed action is 
left to the imagination of the audience, for its purpose 
throughout is to make the scene realistic, although 
there are necessarily many elements that must make 
their appeal through the imagination. This is due to 
the fact that acting is an art instead of a science. A 

I 



2 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

good painting, no matter how detailed in execution, is 
art because it can only approach realism and can never 
be exact. A photograph is an exact reproduction im- 
possible of accomplishment by human agency and is 
therefore not art but science. The ability to grasp 
all the essential details and omit non-essentials in re- 
producing different phases of life, whether in paint- 
ing or in acting, constitutes art, but any means that 
can possibly reproduce these phases with exactness is 
science and can not be called art. 

The imagination is called upon in acting, to suggest 
the passage of time. The lowering of the curtain, 
dark changes, change in the period or style of costume, 
or a change in the lighting effects are all means of 
suggesting to the audience the conception of minutes, 
hours, days, months or years which are supposed to 
have passed during the progress of the play. 

The character of the scenery representing luxury or 
poverty ; indoors or outdoors ; summer, winter, spring 
or fall ; the style and quality of the furniture ; the taste 
of the decorations and the general coloring of the 
scene, stirs the imagination of the audience to a con- 
ception of definite location. 

The unreality of the footlights and the absence of 
the fourth wall to an interior set stimulate the mind 
of the audience to imagine the whole scene, characters, 
dialogue and all to be, not within the narrow limits of 
a theater building, but out in the real world. Other 
appeals to the imagination are made through the back- 
ing sets to the exits, the adjoining room and out-of- 
doors ; through the use of the telephone which induces 



ACTING 3 

the audience to imagine a person at the other end of 
the wire, and through the mentioning of characters 
and events not actually represented before the au- 
dience. From these instances it may be seen that act- 
ing approaches the realistic representation of life but 
still retains hold on the imagination to a very great 
extent. It has chosen the essential details necessary 
to give a conception of real scenes and incidents and 
is therefore art. 

Acting is art for another reason. The actor who 
can so admirably adjust himself to another's point of 
view that he can assume his likeness in action, make- 
up and speech, and adapt himself to the essential 
characteristics of the character in the dialogue, is an 
artist, for he has aroused the imagination to a point 
at which the auditor forgets he is listening to a play 
and for the time being believes he is witnessing a bit 
of actual life. 

Relationship to Reading. — There has grown up a 
prevailing idea among literary students, particularly 
among those who make some attempt at the public 
reading of plays and classic literature, that reading, 
because it is suggestive, is much more worthy of the 
name Art than is acting. An audience is thought 
to be uplifted and ennobled if the imagination is ap- 
pealed to, and since acting is realistic and does not 
constantly stimulate the faculty of imagination, it is 
not so high an art as reading. The error in this rea- 
soning lies in the false assumption that acting can not 
be suggestive as well as realistic. Acting is sugges- 
tive, but in a different way. 



4 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Acting is just as essential to the ultimate building 
of suggestive power in reading as food is to the ulti- 
mate making of blood which feeds the brain and pro- 
duces thought. There must first be a broad experience 
of realism before the mind can begin to create imagin- 
ative or ideal pictures. The individual who has the 
genius to adapt himself to other points of view and 
reproduce accurately the essential vocal and bodily ex- 
pression of the character is as great an artist as the 
finished reader who has learned to play almost wholly 
upon the imagination. The two arts are different, 
but their difference lies in the manner of development. 
Acting is realistic in that it tries to reproduce every 
essential detail in order that the picture created may 
be to every one the same in degree of vividness or im- 
pressiveness. It is suggestive in its larger connota- 
tion to the auditor and in the fact that it actually 
brings out only essential details whereby the auditor 
can get the real picture without being obliged to ac- 
cept the non-essentials. Acting does not require the 
scene to be actually in somebody's front yard or in 
the barroom of a New York dive, but it requires 
painted scenery to suggest these places. It does not 
go out on the city streets and bring in on the stage a 
real Italian organ grinder to represent "Mr. Antonio," 
nor does it conscript a country minister to give a life- 
like imitation of himself before the public, but it em- 
ploys Otis Skinner and Ernest Elton to represent in 
essential detail these characters necessary to the play. 
There is realism, to be sure, and yet back of it all there 
is a great inherent suggestion. 

The power of reading lies in the fact that by voice 



ACTING 5 

and suggestive action it inspires in the minds of the 
audience the essential details of a theme sufficient to 
allow them to create their own complete picture and 
draw their own conclusions. Public reading, however, 
is impossible of accomplishment by one who has not 
first a real conception of what he wants to suggest so 
that he may choose the essentials necessary for imagi- 
native inspiration. In order to be a great public reader, 
one must first be naturally a good actor, although he 
may know very little of the technique of acting. After 
a reader has been developed along the imaginative 
lines of his particular art, he very often becomes a 
poor actor because he has developed the suggestive- 
ness at the expense of detailed realism. Conversely 
an accomplished and successful actor is rarely able to 
excel in the reader's art, because he has developed the 
detailed realism of acting at the expense of his sugges- 
tive powers. It is this one-sided development that 
causes so much inconsistency on the part of the actors 
and the so-called readers when they present their work 
for public approval. 

The actor is always a character on the stage whether 
speaking or silent, and must always be doing some- 
thing consistent with the character he represents. 
Great attention is paid to apparently trivial details of 
business. Every move is important. The picking up 
of a pin, the closing of a door, the lighting of a match, 
or the supposedly unconscious drumming of the foot 
on the floor ; all these have a composite significance 
in making up the general effect of reality. But this 
fact must be remembered : nothing that is unessential 
may be brought in. Herein lies the art. If it were 



6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

true to life, the action would be burdened with a thou- 
sand accidental details that have no significance, and 
the time of playing would have to be exactly as long 
as actually living the story. In fact it would be im- 
possible for human beings to reproduce with scientific 
accuracy even ten minutes of the life of one person ; 
but an artist can choose the essential acts and move- 
ments of one person throughout a lifetime and repro- 
duce them in the space of three hours on the stage. 
It is not, therefore, the number of details wrought in 
a piece of reproduction that makes it good or bad art, 
but in the choice of details. Again, to bring up a 
comparison, photography is scientifically exact because 
nature and not the human mind has accomplished it, 
but painting is artistically discriminating because the 
human mind is able to reproduce essential details. 

Limit of Discussion. — In this discussion of acting 
no attempt is made to produce a professional guide- 
book for staging plays, but there will be an endeavor 
to give suggestions for training the student in acting 
to a sufficient extent that he may have his mind, body 
and voice thoroughly accustomed to being adapted to 
the expression of different points of view (character- 
ization). Then, later in his study of Public Reading, 
he will have a fundamental experience upon which to 
build his more suggestive work. The discussion will 
not touch on make-up, costume, or scenery effects in 
detail, but will lay emphasis on literal action with 
properties, stage business, silent action and spoken 
lines including vocal characterization. 

Types of Literature Suitable for Acting. — In 



ACTING 7 

Part One, acting shall be discussed first, with regard 
to the Pky in which two or more characters are in 
conversation, and second, with regard to the Soliloquy, 
or play written for one character only. The Soliloquy 
marks the natural transition point for the actor to 
develop into the reader. He still has practice in the 
use of properties and in literal action, but he has 
added one new note to his work — that of having the 
attention of the audience centered wholly upon 
himself. 



CHAPTER II 



THE PLAY 



Definition. — The Play is a piece of literature writ- 
ten in pure dialogue form for two or more characters 
in which costume, make-up, properties and appropriate 
stage setting are employed, and in which as many 
persons as there are characters to be represented act. 
The Play, of course, may be read by one person, but 
it is referred to in this chapter solely as a vehicle for 
acting. 

Kinds of Plays. — Plays are regarded as to their 
character under the head of farces, farce-comedies, 
comedies, comedy-dramas, dramas, tragedies and 
poetic dramas, and progress in their imaginative and 
connotative power proportionately from the farce to 
the poetic drama. 

The Farce is an almost wholly surface play with no 
depth of thought or suggestion and with no appeal 
whatever to esthetic or ennobling motives. It abounds 
in exaggerated comedy and impossible situations 
which serve merely to entertain for a couple of hours 
and thereafter be forgotten. The Magistrate, by 
Pinero, and Jane, by Leskocq and Nicholls, are not- 
able examples of the farce. 

Farce-Comedy is one step in advance of the farce 
in that, while its situations are not actually impossible, 
yet they are highly improbable, so that the humor 

8 



ACTING 9 

resulting is as exaggerated as that of the farce. The 
Great Adventure, by Arnold Bennet, is an example of 
the farce-comedy. While it might be said that the 
farce-comedy does leave something for the auditor to 
think about, it is nevertheless, like the farce, essen- 
tially lacking in appeal to any of the higher feelings. 

The Comedy makes a decided step in advance in 
its appeal to real lasting thought. It is not exag- 
gerated. The situations are, of course, unusual, but 
not at all improbable, and the humor is so compelling 
that it is at once uplifting and connotative of beauty 
and of the real joy of life. It stirs not deeply but 
gently and is much more far-reaching in its imagina- 
tive influence than many who are more sober-minded 
are willing to admit. The comedy is more difficult 
to present than either the farce-comedy or the farce, 
for to bring out the essentials of humor in life with- 
out overdoing and employing a number of accidentals 
requires the highest type of art. To play a tragic 
role does not demand more discriminating ability, and 
it is easier to tell the culture of an actor through the 
quality of his humor than through the power of his 
pathos or his magnetic appeal to the sentiments. The 
comedy then, has much to do with the imagination and 
it is therefore the best of all types for the early stu- 
dents study and practice. The Fortune Hunter and 
The Boomerang, both by Winchell Smith, are notable 
examples of pure comedy. 

The Comedy-Drama is a pleasantly humorous play, 
with a mildly amusing plot balanced by serious 
thought and sympathetic mood. The humor is present 



lo DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

to relieve the otherwise serious mood rather than to 
be amusing for its own sake. Its imaginative appeal 
is to the sentiments and its connotative power pro- 
duces many lasting impressions. The comedy-drama 
may have an uplifting mission and may therefore be 
regarded as possessing distinct virtues for the student 
who has ambition to become a public reader. It gives 
opportunity for the development in another direction, 
namely, toward sympathetic emotion, while still retain- 
ing the appreciation for the niceties of humor. Mice 
and Men, by Madeline Lucette Ryley, is a splendid 
example of this type of play. 

The Drama is a serious play. While it may have 
touches of humor (it really ought to, for a play with- 
out humor is depressing and on the whole does not 
leave so strong an impression) its plot and purpose are 
serious. The appeal is to the deeper natures of men 
and affords great opportunity for the imagination of 
the auditors. In this type of play, the problems, sor- 
rows and disappointments of life have their expression 
and are therefore more keenly connotative to the 
average listener than the joys, and the unexpected 
pleasures of life, for they come closer to the ordinary 
experiences. It is easier to make an average audience 
weep than to make it laugh. Notable examples of the 
serious play are The Passing of the Third Floor Back, 
Kindling, The Truth and The Thief. All these have 
remarkable connotative power. 

The Tragedy is a pathetic play in which the extreme 
of the serious emotions are portrayed. It usually 
teaches a powerful lesson and, because of its warning, 



ACTING II 

gives great opportunity for imaginative effect. It is 
the most powerful of dramas and should not be at- 
tempted by students until they have had plenty of 
experience in the milder forms of plays. Many public 
readers and actors fail at the beginning because they 
make the mistake of trying to do what is beyond their 
experience to understand. Othello or Hamlet or Lear 
may be wonderfully acted by M ant ell, Sothern or 
Faversham, or read by two or three of our veteran 
readers, but it is a mistake for the young reader to 
attempt tragedies in public. 

The Poetic Drama is a highly idealized play written 
in meter. It is the most imaginative of all plays and 
is very often given with as much power as a reading 
as when fully acted out in a complete setting. Such a 
play rarely requires much action or use of properties, 
for its purpose is so obviously to produce thought and 
emotional connotation that properties become almost 
purely accidental. There are, in fact, many such plays 
which lose much of their beauty when presented in a 
regular setting with properties and costumes. Tenny- 
son's The Falcon and Becket are much more suitable 
for reading than for acting. Everywoman, b\ 
Browne, makes a wonderful reading, but its author 
has worked out so ingeniously the action in the va- 
rious settings that when acted it loses nothing, but 
rather adds new and clearer values which offer in 
turn new connotations. 

Limit of Discussion. — Other classifications of the 
play might be given such as the Melodrama, an exag- 
gerated, serious play with improbable situations; 



12 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Vaudeville Sketches; Ventriloquial Stunts, etc., but 
they have no place here. There are, of course, the 
musical plays w^hich approach the ideal of high imagi- 
nation through progression from the Burlesque, Musi- 
cal Comedy, Comic Opera and Light Opera to Grand 
Opera, but this discussion is concerned solely vi^ith the 
dramatic phase of the art and v^ill not trespass upon 
the musical field. 

Technique of Presentation. — From the standpoint 
of a finished production, there are several avenues of 
criticism open to the Director of plays when he is pro- 
ducing a performance, in a regularly equipped theater, 
for v^hich an admission price is charged. 
(i.) The Setting. In the first place the scenery 
must have been selected to represent as closely as pos- 
sible the period, the season of the year, the locality 
and the condition of environment. Special attention 
should have been given to the grouping of the furni- 
ture in the scene so that each room or set maintains a 
natural and livable aspect. The chairs should look as 
if they had been as unconsciously placed v^ithout 
special reference to any one of the four v^alls — as they 
would look in a real living-room. If the chairs all 
face the audience at right angles they produce the 
same effect on a careful observer that any actual sit- 
ting-room would make if all the chairs faced primly 
in one direction. There is, of course, this difference 
between the real room and the stage set ; while a real 
room should be the model for a stage dressing, yet the 
art of decorating for the stage is manifested in the 
placing of the furniture so that it does not seem at all 



ACTING 13 

stiff and conventional but at the same time keeps its 
general direction toward the audience. This effect is 
sometimes acquired by placing one or two unused 
chairs up stage at an angle nearly opposite to some of 
the down-stage chairs. One of the first things that 
marks a production as amateurish and permits an air 
of tolerance to settle on the faces of a patronizing pub- 
lic, is the stiff, prim arrangement of the furniture. 

One way of eliminating the stiffness of effect in 
the grouping of furniture is to place the pieces first 
just as straight and conventionally as possible with 
every piece at right angles to the footlights. Then 
the director should walk across the stage, giving a 
shove here and a push there in haphazard angles until 
every piece has been moved. After seeing how the 
grouping looks from the front, he should repeat the 
operation several times, trying the distances and angles 
until the room looks like a real one. The furniture 
used most by the characters should be placed down 
stage and rather near the center, leaving the up stage 
for silent and unobtrusive action. No exact rule can 
be given for the placing of furniture but the practised 
eye of the director who has observed different ar- 
rangements in real homes will enable him to bring 
about any effect he wants. 

(2,) Kinds of Furniture. In selecting furniture for 
the scene the director must be careful to see that it is 
appropriate in period and quality, and that it is con- 
sistent with the atmosphere. To play a kitchen scene 
in a richly furnished parlor set or a ballroom scene 
furnished with wooden chair and an old work bench 



14 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

would, of course, hardly be permitted by even the 
most inexperienced of directors, but there are subtler 
distinctions that need consideration. A fireplace, for 
instance, may be perfectly proper in a scene, but if it 
is apparently going full blast in a situation supposed 
to occur in the middle of July, it is too much to expect 
that a few bright minds in the audience will not detect 
the inconsistency and spread the news to the rest of 
the audience. The wall decorations, bric-a-brac and 
paintings should be in keeping with the spirit of the 
scene and the nature of the characters occupying the 
surroundings. A truly artistic director will pay great 
attention to the appropriate coloring of the scene and 
see that the furniture and upholstery is in keeping. 
(^.) Properties. After seeing that the set is com- 
plete the next care of the director is to know that all 
the essential properties are in place for instant use and 
that they are consistent with the period, locality and 
season. One of the ludicrous blunders often made on 
the amateur stage is seen in the appearance of a young 
woman in furs with snow flakes dotting her apparel, 
followed by a young man wearing a straw hat ! An- 
other inconsistency is noticed in the use of a stylish 
electric lamp at a period when candles were used ex- 
clusively. Attention to such little details is necessary 
to the fulfilment of the author's purpose in giving the 
play to the public. The least inconsistency often 
creates an atmosphere that destroys the impression of 
reality and thus hinders the broader connotative influ- 
ence of the play. The director should be sure that 
each actor is responsible for every property that he is 



ACTING 15 

personally concerned with, such as letters, newspapers, 
fountain pen, watch, handkerchief, eye-glass, cigarette 
case or anything that is not a general property, or 
that is used in common on the stage by all the actors. 
(4.) Grouping of Characters. Careful grouping of 
the characters on the stage is most essential in order 
to keep what is known as ''balance." The action 
should never be centered for any length of time on 
one comer of the stage while the rest of the stage is 
unoccupied. The center and down stage if possible 
is always reserved for the most important situations 
and action in the scene. The silent actors and super- 
numerary groups are placed in informal but balanced 
positions up stage and at the sides. These groups 
should never remain long in the same positions but 
should shift about unostentatiously in order to give 
the impression of unstudied movement and poise. 
Groups up stage should not all stand or sit facifig the 
audience (unless, of course, their attention is sup- 
posed to be upon those occupying the center). All 
should be doing something or conversing in pan- 
tomime. It is not necessary here to speak in detail of 
the correct standing, sitting or reclining positions on 
the stage. All this has been effectively set forth in 
various guide-books of stage technique. It is enough 
to say that the director must see to it that good pos- 
tures are formed and such harmony of action main- 
tained that no group either silent or speaking, 
stationary or in motion, shall attract attention to itself 
without being related to the atmosphere of the scene. 
(S-) Mechanical Effects. Another important part 



l6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

of a stage performance is the mechanical effects, and 
in this phase of his work the director can not be too 
careful. Since in the play realism is sought after, and 
since as many essential detailed impressions as pos- 
sible are given to the audience, it is important that the 
sounds of wind, thunder, the pattering of rain, the 
crash of broken glass, the clatter of horses' hoofs, the 
sounds of an approaching auto, the honk of the horn 
and all the various sounds that can be represented by 
mechanical devices be used to help keep consistent the 
illusion of reality. The effect of snow or rain as seen 
through the window or in an exterior setting can be 
brought about with a vividness that is remarkable and. 
may be necessary to a complete realization of the 
author's purpose. All these things go to make up an 
integral impression which, unless kept consistent, 
would impair the larger suggestive effect upon the 
audience. Of course, many of these "effects" as they 
are called can be omitted without serious loss, but the 
director must be sure that such an omission will not 
be noticed. For instance, if a character approaches 
the window and raising the shade exclaims, "My! 
What a dreadful storm! Oh! What a crash!" it is 
too much to expect that the audience will remain un- 
der the spell of the situation if, upon looking out the 
window, it beholds a beautifully clear sky in bright 
sunlight, and, instead of hearing the thunder crash, 
listens attentively to dead silence preceding the last 
part of the actor's speech! 

(6.) Lighting Effects. Electricity has made possible 
the representation of the various lighting effects 



ACTING 17 

which add so much to the atmosphere of a play. The 
fire in the fireplace, the Hghtning flash and the dif- 
ferent shades of twilight, moonlight and daylight, 
have made the presentation of plays so realistic that 
the imagination of the audience, unburdened with the 
necessity of supplying these details, is left free to ex- 
pand in the larger connotation of thought and feeling. 

The significance of color effects is exceedingly 
great in the production of a pretentious play. Of 
course, w^here there are no important changes of light 
throughout the play, it may be acted in w^hatever light 
the theater affords, but a play requiring any changes 
of light should not be attempted in a poorly equipped 
theater. A good theater to-day is equipped with all 
the necessary electrical apparatus used for the produc- 
tion of all varieties of light. The director should 
make himself acquainted with the various psychologi- 
cal influences said to be present in these different col- 
ored lights. 

Yellow light is the bright, vivacious, happy light 
appropriate to brilliant evening scenes, while the same 
light, dimmed, lends a note of anxiety, or suspense. 

Dark blue is the suggestion for darkness and in- 
duces an atmosphere of mystery and danger. 

Amber light is effectively used to represent hot, 
sultry weather and is often used in desert scenes to 
suggest sun-baked plains at noon time. A mixture of 
amber and ordinary yellow light with a slight tinge of 
light blue gives the daylight interior effect. 

Pure white light should never be used except in 
scenes portraying a supernatural, or ghostly setting. 



i8 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

,It is directly opposite in effect to the dark blue, or 
rrt}'stery light for the white is frankly supernatural 
and the blue suggests material mystery or suspense. 
For instance, a graveyard scene at night may be 
played in dark blue light, but a scene representing a 
dream in which one talks with spirits or fairies or 
angels should be played in white light. 

Light greeft is restful in its influence and, while it is 
rarely used alone, it becomes most effective in its 
modulation from the yellov/s and ambers of daylight 
into the twilight green, the purple light of reflected 
sunset and finally the dark blue of night. 

Light blue is the best color for moonlight with all 
its charms of sentiment. It has enough of the blue to 
make mystery enchanting and enough of the green to 
make it restfuL Because it is the light that inspires 
romance, the love scene played in moonlight is most 
convincing in its effect upon an audience. 

Red light, usually made effective through a fire- 
place or red-shaded lamps, gives a luxurious, sensuous 
impression — rather Bohemian and unrestrained. It 
is the light that inflames physical passions — anger, 
lust and revenge. A setting wholly in red light should 
not be permitted unless the scene is intensely physical, 
and even then the presence of too much red light is 
apt to give the scene a sordidness that approaches vul- 
garity. Rightly used, however, red light may be very 
effective by way of contrast and v/armth of situation. 

Orange light is the vulgar light. It combines the 
red light of uncontrolled nature with the yellow light 
of brilliancy which seems to give a brazenness and 



ACTING 19 

flamboyancy to physical passions. It is the light of 
the barroom and the brothel, and when employed 
gives a characteristically uncultured and lawless at- 
mosphere to the scene. 

All these various effects are accomplished through 
footlights, overhead lights, floods, bunch-lights and 
spotlights from the wings or back of the theater. 
Many modern theaters are trying to do away with 
footlights altogether, since they make a rather unnat- 
ural light which proceeds from below upward and 
gives unnatural shadows to the face, if the actor is too 
near them. Their original usefulness lay in dispelling 
all shadows, so that the artificial shadows made by 
dark grease paint to represent wrinkles together with 
light colored paint for the high lights would have the 
same effect from all points of the stage. These lights, 
balanced by overhead and wing lights, gave a greater 
illusion to the painted scenery and did away with 
shadows cast by the actors in walking about the stage. 
By the skilful use of overhead, wing and tormentor 
lights, many up-to-date theaters are successfully light- 
ing their stages and at the same time doing away with 
the unsatisfactory footlights. The spotlight from the 
rear, or from overhead at the side when focussed in a 
flood covering the whole stage is the best effect for 
moonlight. It is well to say right here that a spotlight 
from the rear of the building should never be focussed 
on any one of the characters in an ordinary play. It 
is unreal and inconsistent with material laws to have 
any person in a scene surrounded by a halo of light 
while she pathetically rocks the little orphan to sleep 



20 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

or says her prayers by the little white iron bed! The 
focussed spotlight is for musical comedy or fancy 
plays and should not be employed in the legitimate 
drama. 

It is the director's business further to see that the 
operators of the stage effects should know their busi- 
ness cues and work simultaneously with the actor's 
lines and business. It is discouraging for the actor 
to walk up to a table and blow out a couple of candles, 
saying as he does so, "Out goes the light!" and then 
be obliged to walk half-way to his exit before the 
stage hand gets around to dim the lights. Every ef- 
fect should be exactly on time; the bell should ring at 
the proper instant, the lights dim or go out at the 
appointed cue and the thunder crash in its turn. An 
instant's delay causes the audience to lose its hold on 
the spell of the scene. The director must impress 
these facts on the minds of his assistants and then see 
that the business is rehearsed until it is right. 
(y.) Concerning Make-up and Costumes. The direct- 
or should superintend the make-up and costuming of 
the characters for the production. Granted that the 
student may have had a thorough course in the theory 
and practice of make-up, it is best for the director to 
assure himself that all make-up and costumes are con- 
sistent with the age, complexion, nationality, position 
and condition of environment of the character to be 
represented. The judgment of beginners and even of 
some professionals can not be trusted always to be 
sound in deciding what is the proper make-up and 
dress for certain occasions. The young women of the 



ACTING 21 

cast invariably want to look pretty whether their 
character is supposed to be so or not, and the director 
has to be constantly alert or in some dark hour he will 
observe what is intended to be a homely old maid, 
stalk on the stage in the gorgeous make-up and cos- 
tume of an eighteen-year-old debutante! 

Before proceeding to the next topic concerning gen- 
eral stage business, it may be well briefly to review 
the actor's situation as he steps upon the stage in ap- 
propriate costume and make-up, amid scenery repre- 
senting as realistically as possible the condition, 
season and location in which he is to speak his lines. 
He must assume the voice, bearing and eccentricity, if 
any, of the character he portrays. Everything that is 
to be handled, such as dishes, food, books, papers, let- 
ters, etc., must be there in its proper place. The 
scene, if an interior, represents a room enclosed by 
three walls. The fourth wall is transparent through 
which the audience is permitted to see and hear what 
is going on. In this setting the actor walks, runs, sits, 
reclines, kneels, plays the piano and in fact does with 
an exactness and precision the hundred and one little 
acts that would be observed if, instead of a stage, it 
were a real private room and the actor in a real situa- 
tion. While these little things are done apparently in 
the same way, there is still a big difference between 
this and what it would be in real life. The accidentals 
and the unobservable details are left out and only the 
essentials acted. In real life the words spoken, the 
little movements, the exits, the entrances, together 
with a multitude of unrelated acts and speeches, are 



22 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

spontaneous and unforeseen in any arranged space of 
time. On the stage the actor knows in advance every- 
thing he has to do and say, and it is his art to do it 
as if it were spontaneous, and as unconcernedly as if 
he w€re not being watched by three thousand pairs of 
eyes. Art enters into the writing of the play when 
the author so skilfully connects dialogue and situation 
with essential actions that gaps in time are bridged 
and the whole story gives the impression of detail and 
completion. 

In producing the play all the actors must lend to 
the same effect and keep consistent with the author's 
purpose. 



CHAPTER III 
THE PLAY {Continued) 

Technique of Presentation {continued). — (8) 
General Stage Business. Stage business refers to the 
action accompanying the speaking of lines ; the walk- 
ing and moving about stage ; the handling of proper- 
ties, furniture or other characters while in view of the 
audience, and the action when silent or in pantomimic 
conversation with others. General stage business 
means the larger moves that must be accomplished in 
common with the others upon the stage. Detailed 
stage business refers to the individual actions not 
especially in common with the others. 

Naturally the first care of the director is to see that 
the entrances are made effectively. A poor entrance 
often destroys the spirit of the whole scene. Even an 
unimportant character must take pains to enter well, 
for a misstep or an awkward move may detract from 
the attention that should be given to others upon the 
stage. Of course, the situation and type of character 
represented will vary the manner of entrance but there 
are general rules to observe which affect any kind of 
an entrance. Even if a character is supposed to stub 
his toe on the threshold, he must do it artistically. All 
entrances must be ''on the cue" and must not show 
hesitancy or wavering between an impulse to step in 
and an impulse to wait an instant. The actor must 

23 



24 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

not linger in sight of the audience, waiting for his cue. 
He must be just out of sight, ready to step in sight the 
moment his cue is given. All entrances should be 
purposeful. Even though the character is supposed to 
enter aimlessly, the actor must be purposeful in the 
aimlessness. In other words, the actor himself must 
be on the alert at his entrance whatever the character 
he represents. There must be purpose and precision 
in every move. A small man may make just as effec- 
tive an entrance as a large man. He must never be 
conscious of disadvantage because of his stature. If 
he holds up his chest and steps firmly with head erect, 
the audience will never think of him as being short. 
The whole secret of effective entrance lies in the fact 
that the actor must know exactly how and when he is 
to enter and be conscious of it at the time. In his 
previous action he may have so registered his emotions 
and vocal changes that he is no longer conscious of 
them, but he must akvays be conscious of his entrances. 
They are too important to be entrusted to habit, for 
the actor giving the cue may have varied the tempo 
or the action accompanying his speech so that the situ- 
ation is changed ever so slightly. If so, the alert actor 
waiting the cue will adjust his entrance accordingly, 
but if he has merely registered the habit of this par- 
ticular entrance, he may make an error. Individual 
emotions and actions, and actions that have no imme- 
diate relation to the other characters may be and ought 
to be registered by thorough practice until the whole 
expression becomes subconscious, but in all cases 
where careful "team-work" Is necessary alert con- 



ACTING 25 

sciousness of expression is important. This may not 
apply to every case of professional acting, but it surely 
applies to beginners. Much of a director's trouble in 
the beginning has to do with the timing of entrances 
and exits. 

It may seem at first that the exit is less important 
than the entrance, but this is not true. The actor must 
study to make an effective exit just as he studies his 
entrances. There are added problems in making an 
exit which do not arise in making an entrance. For 
instance, an actor often must make an exit while he is 
speaking to some one in the opposite direction from 
the door. He must judge the distance and the exact 
location of the door while apparently giving his en- 
tire attention to his lines and particular business. If 
he miscalculates and finds himself about to walk into 
a mirror or through a window it is embarrassing and 
may spoil a scene. A purposeful exit is as important 
as a purposeful entrance, in fact, the impression one 
leaves behind is often more important than the im- 
pression one makes at the beginning. Of course, there 
are accidents which may happen at any time, but the 
audience is quick to detect an accident due to mere 
carelessness. It is also as quick to notice presence of 
mind on the part of an actor in averting disaster. The 
following illustration is an admirable example of the 
latter case. 

A popular actress had been rehearsing a scene for 
some time in which she was to make an exit at the 
door upper left. On the evening of the performance 
a clumsy stage mechanic set a window in place of the 



26 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

door. Unfortunately the director did not notice the 
mistake, so when the actress entered from the right 
she made her way to the occupant of the room and 
keeping her eyes on him while speaking, walked 
diagonally up stage toward the door, as she supposed. 
The action was such that she was unable to take her 
tyts from her companion until about to step out the 
door. She had gauged the distance and position cor- 
rectly, and as she turned to sweep magnificently out 
the door she discovered instead a window about two 
feet above the floor. It happened to be an open win- 
dow so, without a moment's hesitation, as gracefully 
as possible she stepped over the sill, saying as she did 
so, 'T'll go out by way of the garden." Her presence 
of mind and the open window saved the situation. 
Of course, the audience knew it was a mistake, but 
the young woman's alertness and resource in the 
emergency was so thoroughly appreciated that the 
scene was not at all affected and the mistake in a few 
minutes was forgotten by every one except the actress 
herself — and incidentally the clumsy stage hand. 

One of the most important pieces of general stage 
business is what is termed "crossing." Prompt books 
are full of directions marked '*X" to indicate the point 
in the dialogue where the actor is to cross from one 
position to another. "X— right" or "X— left" directs 
the actor to move to the right or to the left of the 
stage, but these comments do not aid the director in 
determining just how far to the right or left or in 
what particular direction, up stage or down stage, is 
meant. It is just as well that they do not, for the 



ACTING 27 

director must learn to be independent and use his own 
judgment. The director who is a slave to the printed 
prompt book is lost! He must make his own pictures 
and plan his own directions for his individual inter- 
pretation of the play. He must be his own judge of 
how far and just at what point his actors must make 
these crosses. The reason for these movements is to 
avoid conventionality and stiffness which would result 
from actors speaking too long a time from the same 
position. The crosses give life and reality to the con- 
versations. Detail business may be left until later re- 
hearsals, but these general moves and crosses are 
imperative at the very first, and it is absolutely essen- 
tial to the success of the play that the lines or business 
on which every cross is to be made should be system- 
atically planned by the director before meeting his cast 
for the first rehearsal. 

Moves are not properly called ''crosses" unless the 
actor is to pass the center of the stage in going from 
one side to the other or unless he crosses in front of 
another actor, but the term is loosely used to indicate 
any movement in walking from any part of the stage 
to another. Actors are directed to cross up right or 
down left or right center or left center, indicating ap- 
proximately the position they are to establish during 
a certain speech or piece of business, and it is for the 
director to determine just where the exact position is. 
The author of the play may have instructed the actor 
to sit by the fireplace, but if the director says "stand 
by the victrola" the wise actor will not have to be told 
a second time. 



28 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Much could be said about the different kinds of 
crosses, but it is only necessary here to give a general 
caution or two. Care must be taken that no cross is 
made in front of an actor who is speaking at that 
moment. The character speaking may cross in front 
of the silent actor, however. When one character has 
passed in front of another, the other should ''take 
stage," or move slightly in the opposite direction to 
give balance to the positions. This must be done un- 
ostentatiously so that the audience will not be conscious 
of the movement. 

One of the difficulties arising from the crosses is 
the tendency of the beginner to fix his eye on the spot 
he is to occupy and then make a dive for it the mo- 
ment his cue comes. Another tendency is to back up 
to the place if he didn't happen to hit it the first time 
he made the plunge. The director must impress upon 
the student the necessity of practising until he walks 
easily and naturally to the spot in accordance with 
what seems to be a normal and spontaneous impulse 
to move. In crossing up stage some beginners are 
under the impression that it is wrong to turn the back 
upon the audience so they walk backward or sidewise 
and even back out of an exit. Others think they must 
move in straight lines across the floor whether there 
happens to be furniture in the path or not. Common 
sense is the safest guide for any director in handling 
these problems. Any move that looks awkward in real 
life will look awkward on the stage. An unnatural 
turn or twist of the body will look unnatural on the 
stage. The director must drill and drill until every 



ACTING 29 

move appears spontaneous and unstudied. There are 
rules and rules given by various stage manuals, such 
as "Always stand with the up-stage foot slightly in 
advance of the other" or "Never speak up stage with 
the back turned squarely toward the audience," but 
these rules have so many exceptions that it is scarcely 
worth while to make the rules. It is, of course, best 
to keep the face toward the audience whenever it does 
not interfere with the making of a consistent stage pic- 
ture. The director must always watch for stage bal- 
ance, life and spontaneity of movement, and variety 
in grouping. 

In watching the conversation between two people, 
there are two things which the director must observe ; 
the attitude of the speaker and that of the listener. 
The speaker must realize that he is not addressing an 
audience, but that he is talking to somebody about 
something. In other words, he must understand the 
meaning of his lines and at the same time feel an in- 
terest in their effect upon his hearer. The listener, 
on the other hand, must not appear as if he were wait- 
ing for a cue. He must be taught how to listen and 
show response in his glance, in the movement of his 
hands or in other bodily expression. He must be 
ready to interrupt on the instant of his cue and yet 
appear as if the interruption were spontaneous. He 
must be able to listen according to the mood of the 
character he is representing and must show the atti- 
tude in his whole bodily expression. For beginners 
the listening part is much more difficult than the 
speaking part. It is so hard for them to understand 



30 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

that it is just as important to keep in the characteriza- 
tion while not speaking as while speaking. 

In general conversation, where there are supposed 
to be several people talking at once, the center of at- 
tention shifts alternately from one group or couple to 
another group as the conversation becomes audible. 
The group carrying on the audible conversation of 
course holds the center of attention, but the other 
groups must continue in pantomimic conversation and 
not stand, like clothing-store models, immovable and 
staring, waiting for the cue to the audible speech. The 
attitude of listening here is just as important for the 
pantomimic conversation as it is for those who are the 
center of attention in audible speech. If the couples 
or groups are standing, they should shift and change 
formations in order to give the appearance of a real 
formal gathering, moving about and exchanging 
conversations. 

When one person is addressing the others formally, 
it is best for the speaker to remain on one side and a 
little up stage while his little audience is grouped on 
the other side and down stage unless the effect of the 
speech upon the listeners is important rather than the 
action of the speaker himself. When one is speaking 
informally to the others he may be seated or standing 
near the center of the stage, while the others, listening, 
are grouped in balanced positions about the stage. If 
the speech is animated or intense while the speaker is 
standing, it is usually best for him to maintain the 
center of the stage as nearly as possible, while the 
others crowd around him on either side but not di- 



ACTING 31 

rectly in front of him. The important address should 
be so arranged that the speaker faces the audience. 

Business at the dining table needs a word of explan- 
ation in regard to the seating of the characters, the 
handling of dishes and the pantomime of eating. The 
important characters should be seated up stage and 
facing the audience while those having little to do or 
say in the scene may have their backs to the audience. 
A circular table is better than a square one, for the 
space nearest the audience may be unoccupied without 
giving an unnatural look to the situation. Four peo- 
ple seated at a square table look stiff and unnatural 
if two are seated at the back and one at each end, 
leaving the side toward the audience empty. This 
arrangement, however, is sometimes necessary when 
the scene demands an old-fashioned kitchen table, and 
the leading character's action is such that no one can 
be placed betv/een him and the audience. It is impor- 
tant that the servants in a dinner scene be trained to 
serve and accomplish every detail of their business on 
exact cues and with a quietness that will detract noth- 
ing from the business of the more important char- 
acters. If the servants are the leading characters, of 
course this does not apply. The actor at the table 
must give the impression of eating, drinking, etc., 
while carrying on his part in the conversation either 
audibly or in pantomime. He must know when he is 
to stir his coffee, when to put in the sugar or cream 
and on what line to do any of the significant bits of 
business. He should never really eat much of the 
food, but he must pantomime so that the audience 



y 



32 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

thinks he is actually eating. He may pantomime chew- 
ing occasionally, and it may be necessary to take a 
small portion of the food, but in most cases the pan- 
tomime is sufficient and the actor is free from pos- 
sible accident, such as having something in his mouth 
the instant he should be speaking clearly. 

Other significant business, such as moving furni- 
ture or handling chairs, demands the attention of the 
director. It is very often important that the position 
of a chair be changed in the middle of a scene for 
later convenience of business. The director should 
plan in advance at just what point the change should 
be made and who should make it. Care must be taken 
that the action does not look foreseen on the part of 
the actor. Like ail other moves it must appear spon- 
taneous. If the business looks stilted, it is the duty 
of the director to rehearse it until the stiffness is over- 
come. A lady should never attempt to move a chair 
with one hand and even a gentleman should employ 
both hands whenever possible. It takes away the ap- 
pearance of effort and helps the spontaneity of the 
scene. 

Writing letters while dictating their contents or 
while taking dictation from another should be accom- 
plished by the rapid pantomime of writing across the 
page during perceptible pauses in the dictation. If the 
person writing is supposed to be a stenographer, there 
need be no pause in the writing or the dictation. 

In reading aloud from a letter or a newspaper there 
should be a significant change in the manner of utter- 
ance. It should not be delivered with the spontaneity 



ACTING 33 

01 impromptu speech, but on the other hand should 
be read with some irregular pauses and a monotony 
of pitch and color, just as the majority of untrained 
readers read from the printed page. It is a good plan 
to have the matter already written on the sheet in 
order to assist in giving the mechanical effect of 
ordinary reading, but it is not altogether safe to de- 
pend upon its being written. The lines should have 
been memorized the same as the speeches to insure 
against the accidental misplacing of the right sheet on 
the night of the performance. 

Telephone business requires the speaker to reflect 
his mood as he listens to imaginary replies, or talks 
into the instrument. It is well to construct mentally 
just what the replies are to be so that the response in 
facial expression may be consistent with the one-sided 
dialogue and so that sufficient pauses may suggest the 
speaker at the other end of the line. 

Looking out the window, signaling, calling or view- 
ing scenery must all be prompted by the imagination 
of the actor who should visualize the suggested ob- 
jects of his action. For instance, in calling out of a 
window supposed to be four or five stories from the 
street, the speaker must actually see farther down 
than the floor of the stage behind the scene or his 
voice will not get the proper suggestive pitch for the 
distance or direction. In looking at an imaginary 
sunset (not visible to the audience) through a window 
at the right of the stage and near the front, the actor 
must see a sunset in the distance, and not allow his 
focus to stop at the stage mechanic three feet away 



34 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

preparing to dim the lights. He must see beyond the 
reality, or the audience will not fully imagine the 
sunset. Of course, the audience can not actually dis- 
cern the focus of the actor's eyes, but the sum total of 
his attitude will either make or spoil the effect, and if 
he actually imagines a sunset, his body will respond 
to the imagery in such a way as to make his audience 
think he sees it. 

Action near the footlights must be more carefully 
worked out than up-stage business, as a rule, because 
it is more conspicuous. Up-stage business, however, 
when especially significant must be made conspicuous 
by a little more than usual ostentation in order to 
draw the attention habitually directed to down-stage 
action. 

The manner of falling, rising, reclining, lifting, 
carrying, kneeling, sitting and ordinary walking are 
points often neglected, but which are of such great 
importance in themselves and are so easy to be ac- 
quired that no director can afford to overlook them. 
It is impossible to describe satisfactorily in writing 
just how to accomplish these important movements, 
but a hint or suggestion may be helpful to the director 
who has not had the opportunity of technical instruc- 
tion. 

In the first place the walk of an actor must cor- 
respond to the nature of the character he is assuming. 
Let him observe types and strive to imitate the walk. 
A normal walk is energetic and positive, the heels 
striking the floor first and the knee straight at all 
times until the moment of lifting and carrying the leg 



ACTING 35 

forward. Any bend of the knee after the foot has 
been planted gives an unstability to the walk. The 
chest should be kept up and the back of the neck 
pressed against an imaginary collar button. By mas- 
tering this erect position and walk, even a short man 
may appear tall and commanding. In sitting or reclin- 
ing the position is governed normally by its looks 
from the front of the stage. If the positions are 
awkward or stiff, the director should keep suggesting 
slightly different attitudes until the desired effect is 
obtained — then the actor is told to remain in the posi- 
tion until he "gets the feel of it." Then he is re- 
quested to get up, walk across the stage and back and 
resume the position. A few suggestions and a few 
repetitions of the correct assuming of position will fix 
the impression in the motor memory, so that automatic- 
ally thereafter the student will drop into the correct 
posture. A little more care is needed in coaching the 
novice to fall without making himself ridiculous or 
doing bodily harm to himself. If he falls and appears 
to pick out a soft spot on which to land the audience 
will smile at his amateurishness. If he abandons all 
care for himself on the other hand or falls heavily, he 
runs a risk of remaining longer in the pose than his 
part in the play .requires — if he should happen to hurt 
himself. There is only one way in which to fall so 
that it looks real to the audience, and at the same time 
will not even bruise the actor. He should fall straight 
downward, perpendicularly, relaxing the knees first 
and allowing the calf of the leg to receive the first 
shock which is in turn distributed to the thigh, the 



36 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

shoulders and the head as the waist and the neck in 
their turn relax. The head receives no shock at all, 
but the combined effect is a complete fall. In being 
struck or shot, or in fainting, this same method is 
employed most impressively. In lifting one who has 
fallen, the same care must be taken, that no oppor- 
tunity for laughter may be given the audience. Let 
us assume that the figure is lying with the head 
toward the right of the stage. The actor who is to 
lift it kneels on the left knee just back of the prostrate 
form, and with the right hand places the left arm of 
the figure on its breast, grasping with the left the 
upper arm of the figure and giving a sharp pull up, 
at the same time placing his right arm around the 
shoulder of the now upright figure. Then with the 
right knee at the back of the figure he rises, seemingly 
lifting the dead weight. The relaxation of the figure 
must be in the neck and waist and arms, but the 
weight is actually sustained on the bent legs. In 
carrying the dead weight, the actor should put one 
arm of the figure around his neck and appear literally 
to bear the weight as he goes off the stage. It is bet- 
ter whenever possible to have one or two people assist 
in carrying the apparently unconscious member of the 
cast off the stage, and the director should see that 
the extra people get between the prostrate figure and 
the audience so that all the irregularities of the exit 
may be covered. 

(p.) Detailed Business. By detailed business is 
meant the individual business of one actor independ- 
ent of the others. The handling of individual proper- 



ACTING 37 

ties (hat, coat, gloves, cane or umbrella), the smok- 
ing of a pipe, cigar or cigarette ; the pouring out and 
drinking of beverages — all have their particular free- 
dom or limitation in the economy of acting. 

All general business or ''team-work" among the 
actors has to be exactly timed and therefore requires 
more rehearsing than the detailed business which al- 
lows a little more freedom on the part of the individual 
actor, yet even in this freedom there are some limita- 
tions. All individual moves must be consistent with 
the type of character and the nature of the dialogue, 
and a great many movements must be as accurately 
timed as the general business, but there are numberless 
little actions which are necessary that are not in any 
way connected with the dialogue, and which may be 
accomplished at the discretion of the actor if he is 
experienced. The beginner had best confine himself 
to the business suggested by the director, until he is 
thrown upon his own resources. However, even a 
beginner may be permitted to knock the ashes off his 
cigar, or toy with a knife and fork at the table without 
being told exactly the word of the conversation on 
which to act, provided such action does not disturb 
the effect of the dialogue or other business. It is well 
to encourage originality on the part of the students, 
but when there is a tendency to create business just 
for the sake of being original and calling attention to 
himself, then the director must point out the incon- 
sistency and show what may and may not be permitted. 
The director must pay great attention to the facial 
expression and gesture, as well as to the attitude and 



38 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

general bearing of the actor. After the general busi- 
ness is pretty well worked out and the detailed business 
ready to be suggested, the director must begin system- 
atically to drill on the speaking of lines, as they accom- 
pany the business, and the expression of the mood in 
face and gesture. This training should not be left 
until the last, for it is imperative that the association 
of actions with the interpretation of the lines and the 
bodily expression of the motion, be accomplished as an 
aid to perfect memory of the whole work. Any ten- 
dency on the part of the student to speak with his 
back to the audience except when speaking up stage 
should be corrected at the beginning, for it is easier to 
teach him when he may talk with his back to the au- 
dience than to show him over and over again the 
countless times when he must not. There is one diffi- 
culty, however, which arises from giving the student 
the general rule, "not to turn the back on the audience 
while speaking." He often takes it so literally that 
in carrying on a conversation with another standing 
opposite him, he will stand squarely facing the au- 
dience and talk to the other character over his 
shoulder, after the manner of a Sunday-School dia- 
logue on Children's Day. Usually good results can 
be obtained by telling the beginner first to walk up to 
the other character and talk to him just as if they had 
met in the street. Next, he should walk back to where 
he was originally standing, and start again as though 
he were going to repeat the performance, but as soon 
as he has turned, the director should tell him to stop 
and say his speech from that position. He will then 



ACTING 39 

be in the most natural position for conversation from 
these two points. 

(lO.) Individual License in Business. The director 
will do well to remember that very little liberty of 
subjective pantomime should be allowed to the be- 
ginner, for his judgment will in most cases be very 
poor. His self-consciousness will prevent spontaneity 
and ease of movement and he must pay so much atten- 
tion to minute instructions concerning general and de- 
tailed business that he is incapable of thinking for 
himself. He must even be told repeatedly the same 
piece of business, before he gets it associated with his 
line and mood, so it is better not to expect mmch 
freedom on his part at first. As he becomes familiar 
with his Hues and business and acquires more and 
more confidence in himself, he may be told to work 
out business for himself. He should always be cau- 
tioned to keep his individual business consistent with 
the situation and the purpose of the play. 

At every rehearsal, the business should be repeated 
exactly as it was given before. No variations should 
go uncensured and no changes with business be made 
unless the student is told of the change. He must be 
told to watch the director closely while a piece of 
business is being given for his imitation. 
(ii.) Silent Acting. Probably the most difficult 
thing for the amateur to learn is the silent acting. He 
may be talented, and he may be a real genius when it 
comes to acting while speaking lines, but when some 
one else is doing the talking, he seems to lose interest 
in the affair. Sometimes he goes to the other extreme 



40 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

and introduces some original silent acting that will 
take the attention from the others to whom the atten- 
tion rightly belongs. It is for the director to see 
that only such action as he suggests, is introduced. 

There are two distinct types of silent acting, which 
may be called respectively — unobtrusive and aggres- 
sive. 

(a.) Unobtrusive Silent Acting. Unobtrusive si- 
lent acting is the acting of the members of the cast 
who are in the scene but for the time being are not an 
integral part of it. The maid or the butler, dusting or 
cleaning off the table while a conversation is going on 
between two of the chief characters, or the pantomimic 
conversation and action of a company of people at a 
reception while other members of the cast are holding 
the center of attention, are good examples of what 
should be unobtrusive silent acting. One person 
reading a newspaper silently while others converse is 
another example. In such a situation, the amateur is 
prone to relax and sit like so much furniture, until his 
cue comes, whereupon he is instantly galvanized into 
the most active participation. The student must learn 
to act unobtrusively. He must be alive to the situa- 
tion every instant, although he may be required to sit 
up stage with his back to the audience for half the 
scene or more. While the attention of the audience 
must not be drawn to him, yet it will unconsciously 
rest on him every once in a while and it is quick to 
distinguish inertness or lack of participation even in 
a silent and apparently unmovable pose. This type of 
silent acting is more difficult to develop than the ag- 



ACTING 41 

gressive type, for the amateur either fails to appre- 
ciate the importance of keeping his character whether 
he is noticed or not, or else he thinks his acting must 
constantly call attention to himself. It is the direc- 
tor's business to watch minutely the pose, action and 
facial expression of the silent actor, 
(b.) Aggressive Silent Acting. Aggressive si- 
lent acting is necessarily more detailed and accurate, 
for it includes all the movements, facial expression and 
subjective action of the silent actor when he is the 
center of attention or in direct association with the 
center of attention. It is the action performed 
while alone in the scene, or while with another who 
is at the moment doing the talking. It includes the 
attitude, facial expression and subjective gesture of 
the actor while listening intently to another in an 
active part of the scene. 

This aggressive silent acting differs from the un- 
obtrusive type in that it is being constantly under ob- 
servation and has to do with the vital parts of the 
scene, while the other is merely the necessary action 
to make the scene live as a unit and not look stiff or 
unreal. The aggressive type needs perfect timing to 
cues, while the other need not be so accurate. 
(12.) The Speaking of Lines. Perhaps one of the 
most noticeable differences between the work of recog- 
nized artists and that of second-rate players, is in the 
speaking of lines. College amateurs with no experi- 
ence whatever, but with careful drilling by a competent 
director, are noticeably better in their reading of the 
lines, than the great majority of small company pro- 



42 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

fessionals. The competent college or high-school di- 
rector is careful to analyze the thought of the lines and 
see that proper emphasis is placed, while the average 
second-rate professional director is incapable of 
thought discrimination, although he may be endowed 
with emotional ability and originality in suggesting 
stage business. 

A college or high-school student who has brains 
enough to keep up with his classes, is better material 
to work on than the average second-class professional 
when it comes to teaching the speaking of lines. The 
beginner, therefore, should be told at the outset that 
he is not regarded as an amateur in reading lines, but 
that on the other hand he is already supposed to be 
more capable than the average stage professional. In 
action, however, he must understand that he is as a 
child and must be taught from the beginning. Keep 
the amateur idea away from the beginner. Call him 
a "beginner" but not an ''amateur." The latter word 
has a tendency to discourage him at the very start 
and gives excuse for more mistakes than are neces- 
sary. Why should college directors of theatricals be 
content to have their efforts called ''amateur," when 
so much worse acting is seen about the country, in the 
name of professional acting? The college director be- 
littles himself and the cause of education when he 
admits that his instruction can only produce amateur 
results alongside an untutored, unlettered garage 
assistant who suddenly finds himself endowed by na- 
ture to personate a farmer and by proper business 
foresight is able to put himself at the head of a stock 



ACTING 43 

company which tours the small towns and even the 
cities as a professional organization. 

The director should see to it that his students think 
well of themselves and their ability, as long as they are 
willing to be taught. In the first reading rehearsal 
he should make clear to the cast that he expects per- 
fect attention and obedience to suggestions, as well as 
confidence in their own ability to carry the suggestions 
out. Then, in the reading of the lines, careful atten- 
tion should be given to the exact meaning, and errors 
in pronunciation and emphasis corrected. Monotony 
and conventionality of reading may be prevented at 
the first rehearsal so that no bad habits of utterance 
are established. Every beginner in acting should have 
had a preliminary course in interpretation of the 
printed page, and a course in voice training. If the 
student has not had these courses, the director will 
have a more difficult task, and he must keep vigilant 
at all times for mistakes in interpretation. 

It is also well at the outset to correct if possible, all 
those provincial atrocities of speech recognized in the 
Bostonian attempt to effect English pronunciation of 
the final "r," or the New Yorker's less successful imita- 
tion which reaches its greatest absurdity in the Bow- 
ery newsboy's "Thi(e)ty-thi(e)d Street." Correct 
English should be substituted for all dialogue except 
eccentric or special provincial characterizations. 
"Keep the speech as real as the acting" is a good rule. 

Usually beginners either address themselves directly 
to the audience or ignore it entirely in speaking the 
lines. If they have been in plays before, they may 



44 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

have been told not to talk up stage or turn their backs 
to the audience. If this arbitrary rule has been given 
and taken literally, the student is apt to go to the 
other extreme and, facing the audience squarely, ad- 
dress the audience as if talking to it instead of to him- 
self or the others in the scene. Rather than talk up 
stage he will often back up three or four feet in order 
to enable him to be on a parallel line with the one 
he is talking to. This, of course, is ridiculous, and the 
beginner should be made to understand that it is per- 
fectly proper to talk up stage whenever the positions 
of the actors are so arranged that the down-stage 
actor must speak attentively to the up-stage actor. A 
good director, however, will plan the general stage 
movements so that on all possible occasions the one 
speaking shall have either a parallel or up-stage rela- 
tionship to the other, but there are hundreds of situa- 
tion where the opposite position is inevitable. Besides, 
to relieve the monotony and stiffness of positions, and 
in making the scene realistic, it is often advisable to 
speak deliberately up stage. Sometimes the expression 
of one's back in speaking is more important than the 
expression of the face and the director deliberately 
arranges the positions to give this opportunity. In 
speaking to one about to leave at a back exit, it is more 
often than not necessary to speak up stage. 

There are a few situations where one must not speak 
up stage. For instance in speaking aside, or in a 
soliloquy and where facial expression is of primary 
importance, the position must be planned so as to 
bring the speaker with face toward the audience. 



ACTING 45 

When speaking off stage, if the character is sup- 
posed to be at a distance or behind closed doors, the 
illusion is made perfect by muffling the mouth in the 
sleeve of the coat. If nearer at hand the effect is pro- 
duced by speaking back in the throat and gradually 
increasing the volume, pushing forward the placement 
of the tone at the same time until the moment of en- 
trance when the voice will have its full resonance. 
(13.) Asides. One of the most important phases of 
dramatic dialogue is the speaking of "asides." There 
are several forms of the aside each of which requires 
slightly different treatment. First among these forms 
is the quickly interjected phrase or word meant to con- 
vey the thought which is not understood to be spoken 
aloud. For instance, a character steps upon the stage 
and begins conversation with another character. Dur- 
ing this conversation, his thoughts are such that he 
doesn't want his companions to perceive. For the 
sake of the audience, however, he must express them 
some way, so the stage device of the aside is em- 
ployed. Turning slightly away from his companion 
and in a different tone or pitch or degree of force from 
this conversation, he speaks his thought, not directly 
at the audience as if he were addressing them, but per- 
mitting them to hear or to know exactly what he is 
thinking without realizing that he has actually spoken. 
This aside is employed only when it is not possible to 
give the thought without the actual words. A great 
deal can be done by gesture, facial expression and 
attitude, but often the exact thought must be known 
by the audience in order to make clear certain features 



46 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

of the situation. For example, in A Happy Pair when 
the husband is endeavoring to play upon the wife's 
emotional nature, he heaves a big sigh, "Ah-h," and 
then with a quick aside gives the impression that he is 
thinking "Nothing like a sigh to begin with." He 
must actually say this aloud, but the audience must 
understand that it is only the expression of what in 
reality is merely an unexpressed thought. If he de- 
livers it as though it were actually aloud, the audience 
will wonder why the wife does not hear it and be 
indignant. The director must exercise great care in 
getting the right effect for asides, or many scenes will 
be ruined. 

A second form of the aside is seen in the attempt 
of one character to speak to another without letting 
others on the stage hear. It is so different from the 
other form that special attention must be given to it. 
This form is frankly aloud, but with a subdued effect 
to give the impression of being only loud enough for 
one close by to hear and not loud enough for the 
others. The pantomime and vocal expression are dif- 
ferent. Properly this should not be called an "aside" 
but rather a "stage whisper." The first form of the 
aside should not be given in a stage whisper for it is 
not a whisper. It is a complete thought supposed to 
be unexpressed, but actually told to the audience im- 
personally. Therefore it should not suggest a whisper, 
but rather, by accompanying action, should in the 
simplest way convey the thought and the mood of the 
moment. The "aside to another," however, should 
suggest a whisper, and the best method of doing this 



ACTING . 47 

is frankly lowering the voice in pitch and volume, and 
introducing a good deal of breath in the tone, at the 
same time using significant pantomime to show se- 
crecy. Usually the eyes are turned slightly away from 
the one to whom the aside is given and the whole body 
harmonizes with the expression of secrecy. 

Another form of the aside is the meditation apart 
from the others on the stage. This is usually a longer 
speech and is given in a reflective mood accompanied 
by a guarded bearing, if others are in the scene watch- 
ing him, but if alone upon the stage, giving vent even 
more freely to his mood than while actually speaking 
aloud to others. For instance Shylock's long aside — 
"How like a fawning publican," etc., — is a meditation 
while others are watching him. Shylock must act as if 
he were "contemplating his present store" as far as 
what Bassanio and Antonio can see, but the audience 
will detect by Shylock's facial expression, which is 
turned from the others, the mood with which he is giv- 
ing the thought. Here the audience must understand 
that Shylock is not actually speaking aloud, but never- 
theless they must know exactly what he is thinking. 
It would be impossible for him, by mere facial pan- 
tomime to give all that thought without words. 
(14.) Soliloquies. The form of the aside just ex- 
plained in the last paragraph is what is called soliloquy 
and will be discussed at length under a chapter de- 
voted to the soliloquy in a play and the isolated solil- 
oquy written expressly for a single actor in a single 
scene. This form of the aside refers to the expression 
of thought by an actor alone on the stage. He may 



48 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

talk to himself frankly aloud, or he may give the im- 
pression of merely thinking or meditating, but since 
he is alone upon the stage, the audience will not be 
concerned whether it is meant to be aloud or not. In 
Hamlet's soliloquy the impression is given that Hamlet 
is talking aloud to himself. He is alone on the stage 
and the burden of his thought is such that he might 
reasonably talk aloud rather than meditate silently. 

Literary Presentation of Plays. — Before leaving 
the chapter on the Play it would be well to speak of 
a new form of presenting plays — a form not so much 
entertaining as educational. In reality it is an en- 
croachment on the reader's art, but it is excusable 
because of financial limitations existing in a complete 
production and where the beauty of the lines or the 
mood is made prominent for educational value rather 
than for complete artistic entertainment. 

Shakespearian plays given by college organizations 
incur great expense and actual loss, if produced with 
all the scenic and costume equipment used in profes- 
sional performances, so it has been found possible to 
dispense with special scenery and even the period cos- 
tumes, presenting the play with all the action and 
properties but making more prominent the educational 
features. 

The Cyclorama plan as set forth by Mr. B. H. Clark 
in his book, Hozv To Produce Amateur Plays, is a 
most excellent plan for schools that must produce their 
plays inexpensively. 

The Coburn Players and the Ben Greet Players, in 
their outdoor plan of entertainment have been ex- 



ACTING 49 

tremely successful in producing many Shakespearian 
plays and other classics of great value educationally. 
There are many modern plays that can also be given 
effectively with merely screens set up for scenery and 
a few necessary pieces of furniture. 

There is a form of presentation, which is mentioned 
here merely as a convenient means of entertainment 
for literary clubs and societies wishing to offer a play 
or scenes from plays without the formality of scenery 
or the added vexation of committing the lines. This 
plan consists of the several members of the cast "walk- 
ing through the parts" with book in hand and attempt- 
ing to carry as literally as possible some of the general 
action of the play. This method may be called "liter- 
ary presentation." 

These plans, however, are only makeshifts for lack 
of funds, and can not for a moment be accepted at 
the same valuation as a completely staged plan. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ONE CHARACTER PLAY OR SOLILOQUY 

Definition. — Up to this point the play of two or 
more characters has been discussed. The first step in 
progress from the reahstic to the suggestive form of 
entertainment is the Acting Soliloquy, or One Char- 
acter Play. In the Soliloquy the student becomes con- 
scious of the fact that he alone is now the center of 
attention at all times. Hitherto he has acted with 
others who have alternately claimed attention and as- 
sisted him in interpreting the play, but now the whole 
responsibility, every instant of the play, is upon him. 
Here he finds there is no unobtrusive action and no 
time that he may relapse into a negligent pose while 
the attention is centered elsewhere. He must be doing 
something or saying something significant all the 
time. Under this type of play the actor still uses prop- 
erties, make-up and scenery, but it is the only form of 
entertainment suitable to one person where these acces- 
sories are permissible. It is vital to remember this, for 
from time to time in succeeding steps there will be 
various temptations for the student to use properties. 

In the Acting Soliloquy, we have a vehicle which 
requires not only characterization but detailed business 
with specific properties in order to make the thought 
of the selection and the author's purpose understood. 

50 



ACTING 51 

When this form of entertainment is used the enter- 
tainer must have the proper stage setting, costumes, 
properties and make-up appropriate to the character 
soliloquizing, and there must be no imaginary proper- 
ties, costumes, nor other persons concerned in the pre- 
sentation. The one character, if he speaks at all, is 
talking to himself and just as in the ''aside" within a 
larger play, he is giving his thoughts to the audience 
without the audience realizing that he is actually 
speaking. 

Comparison of the Soliloquy and the Aside within 
the Play. — All that has been said under the discus- 
sion of the aside to one's self, applies to the speaking 
of lines in the One Character Play. The only differ- 
ence between the two is that the One Character Play 
is complete in plot and purpose, and is isolated from 
any other scene, while the aside within a play always 
bears some relation to the other scenes. The One 
Character Play is, of course, longer and tells a com- 
plete story. It is written for a reader and is usually 
arranged so that very simple scenery is required and 
very few properties are essential. These few proper- 
ties and the necessity for scenery and furniture make 
the art acting, and the reader, for the time being, be- 
comes an actor. If the properties and scene can be 
dispensed with, they ought to be, and the selection will 
be then classed under types suitable for the reader's 
art. 

In most modern plays the aside and the soliloquy 
are avoided. A skilfully worked out play rarely has 
need for them, but the foregoing treatment of the sub- 



52 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

ject still applies to the older plays and the classics 
which make great use of both the soliloquy and the 
aside. 

The Acting Soliloquy is sometimes erroneously 
called the Acting Monologue. There is no such thing 
literally as an Acting Monologue. In a Monologue 
other characters are assumed to be present, but only 
the one character actually does the talking. He lis- 
tens to their imaginary conversation, may shake hands 
with them in pantomime or he may hand them imagin- 
ary properties. Obviously one can not hand a real 
property to an imaginary character, and it is at this 
point that an Acting Monologue, in the sense we use 
the term "acting," would become absurd. The instant 
an audience is required to imagine the other charac- 
ters, it is inconsistent to use real properties. There- 
fore the Soliloquy is the only form of the actor's art 
which the solitary entertainer may consistently render. 
The Monologue must not be acted. As a vehicle for 
personating, a form of the reader's art, it will be dis- 
cussed later. 

The Relative Importance of Scenery and Furni- 
ture. — The Soliloquy may have very ordinary scen- 
ery and it may be such that a simple platform with one 
or two pieces of furniture and some screens will do, 
but everything must be conveniently placed for use 
just as in a play of two or more characters. This form 
of entertainment is especially good for a closing num- 
ber on a lyceum program. A splendid example is 
Leland T. Powers' Pro and Con in which a young 
man, meditating on the advisability of proposing to a 



ACTING 53 

certain young woman, steps on an ordinary platform 
furnished with a chair and a small stand perhaps. 
Almost any platform dressed tastefully for a reader is 
sufficient to suggest the room in which this young 
man meditates, since here scenery Js of almost no 
importance. Properties, however, are necessary to a 
complete rendition of this piece. The young man has 
a hat, an overcoat, gloves, and a letter in his pocket. 
The humor of the situation here demands real prop- 
erties — imaginary ones will not do, for there is one 
piece of business which could not without confusion 
be pantomimed. If it were not for this the selection 
could be given as a Personation without any proper- 
ties. Another similar selection is A Morning's Mail, 
by Edmund Vance Cook. The letters are actually 
necessary because of some particular business which 
would not be understood if pantomimed without the 
properties. In both selections, the characters in solil- 
oquy are acting rather absent-mindedly and it is neces- 
sary that the audience discern what is supposed to be 
the action with the properties and the action that is 
intended by the young men themselves to be only im- 
aginary. If all the action with properties were made 
imaginary by objective pantomime, the significance of 
the intended imaginary action would be lost. 

Excerpts from Plays for the Platform. — Some- 
times long asides or meditations are taken from a play 
and arranged in a soliloquy which may be acted by a 
lyceum entertainer. Ophelia's "Mad Scene" and Lady 
Macbeth's ''Sleep Walking Scene" may be so ar- 
ranged. All the other characters' speeches are taken 



54 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

out and the one character speech acted with properties, 
in a screened off portion of the platform made to rep- 
resent an ordinary room in the Macbeth scene, or a 
special outdoor scene arranged for the Ophelia episode. 
Any similar excerpt, however, should be made from 
well-known plays, for the audience otherwise would 
have no way of seeing the connection with the rest of 
the play. These scenes are best given as readings for 
there is rarely one of them in which properties are 
essential. Plays that are strong enough in thought 
and emotion rarely need the action with properties 
that could be introduced by one person during a solil- 
oquy. It is sufficient for the one person to give the 
mood of the character. Many entertainers go to the 
extreme to try to arrange everything so that they may 
"dress the part" and exploit their ability in "make-up." 
There comes to mind one entertainer in particular who 
had an arrangement from Ehen Holden in which he 
proceeded as follows : During a preliminary explana- 
tion, he hung a mirror in the back of one of the pulpit 
chairs (the entertainment was in a church) and put 
several little properties on the pulpit and the altar rail. 
Then he stepped behind the screen and, while explain- 
ing the situation, made up as Eben Holden. Presently 
he reappeared with lather all over his face and during 
the implied dialogue that followed, proceeded to shave. 
It was not a soliloquy. A young woman was supposed 
to be present. It wasn't even a real monologue, but 
the entertainer had so arranged the dialogue because 
evidently he saw far enough ahead to realize that he 
couldn't make the audience effectively imagine a 



ACTING 55 

young woman speaking with lather all over her face. 
Therefore he did keep to the character of Eben Holden 
and allowed his audience to imagine the young woman 
sitting on one of the pulpit chairs. Considering, how- 
ever, that the scene was supposed to be a kitchen and 
the chief character was literal in costume and make- 
up, it was rather too much of a stretch for the imagin- 
ation to convert pulpit chairs, etc., into a kitchen sink. 
The whole arrangement was absurd and need not have 
occurred at all. 

The one thing to remember about the Acted Solil- 
oquy is that only one character can be present, and 
then only among consistent surroundings and neces- 
sary properties. No other character can even be as- 
sumed for the soliloquy means one "talking to him- 
self." 

Technique of Presentation. — The technique of 
presentation is practically the same as that of many a 
character play with regard to the set, the furniture 
grouping, properties, costuming and make-up. The 
outside effects, lighting, etc., are rarely necessary, but 
if so they should be very simple. Only those things 
which are vitally related to the character soliloquizing 
should be required. Since no other characters are con- 
cerned, the properties that are not handled or referred 
to by the character need not be in the set. The minute 
business of the character is very essential and of 
course of utmost importance to the play for in the 
Acted Soliloquy it is the need of such btisiness that 
makes it so classified. If the thought and emotion 
only are essential then the selection is not for actiivf* 



56 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

and will be discussed under another topic. The action 
and the speaking of lines are treated exactly as a long 
aside in a play. 



CHAPTER V 

ILLUSTRATIVE MATTER 

From the Play Requiring Two or More Charac- 
ters.— For the purpose of illustration, the second 
scene of the first act in The Merchant of Venice will 
be sufficient. 

The set is a rather elaborate interior arranged to 
represent the dressing-room of Portia. The furniture 
consists of a settee, a dressing table with mirror, and 
two or three chairs. The properties are all the neces- 
sary paraphernalia of a dressing table, brush, hand 
mirror, perfume, etc., all typical of the period. 

At the rise of the curtain Portia, a young woman in 
a dressing gown and slippers, is discovered in a chair 
by the table at the lower left-hand corner of the stage. 
At her back the maid, Nerissa, stands, while dressing 
her mistress* hair. During the dialogue, at exact 
points, specific movements are to be made. Every di- 
rector has a certain number of movements which he 
has planned out, and they may all be different, and at 
different points in the dialogue from those any other 
director has planned, but as long as they are consistent 
with his interpretation, they are legitimate and will 
help make the situation real. Just the business of a 
line or two here will suffice. 

57 



58 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Portia' Heigho, my little lady is aweary of the great 
world. (Sighs, droops shoulder and puts 
down hand mirror which she has been hold- 
ing.) 

Nerissa: You would be, sweet madam, etc. (Tarries 
in the act of brushing and picks up comb.) 

Portia' Good sentences and well pronounced. 
(Shrugs shoulders, reaches down to knee 
and picks off a long hair and rather absent- 
mindedly winds it over finger.) 

Now, of course the above business would rarely be 
seen in a prompt book, but the director suggests it in 
order that these points may give a living reality to the 
scene. He may even say for instance, ''When you re- 
place the hand mirror, it should rest on the table at 
the word aweary!" Of course it could be accom- 
plished just as well on some other w^ord perhaps, but 
if the director says "aweary" — ^that is the word on 
which the action must come. If the girls are experi- 
enced actresses it will not be necessary to be as exact 
in telling them where to shrug shoulders or do the 
most detailed subjective action, but to inexperienced 
students even the small detail of showing surprise by 
lifting the eyebrows is often necessary to suggest. 
Just as children learn to walk and talk through imita- 
tion, so the actor takes his first steps through imitation. 

In the presentation of the scene just described, all 
the dresser articles to be used must be there in reality. 
There can be no imaginary comb or brush. The ser- 
vant who enters must be real. To look upon two girls 



ACTING 59 

in a perfectly arranged setting while they talk to- 
gether, and to be obliged to imagine a third entering 
upon the scene is an impossible situation. The 
audience would immediately think the girls were imag- 
ining the servant in a spirit of fun. The moment the 
reader steps into the realm of the actor, he must be 
consistent with the laws of acting or the result will 
be confusing. Portia, Nerissa and Balthasar are the 
three characters concerned in the scene. There can be 
no makeshift whereby any one of the three, or any of 
the properties concerned, can be omitted if the scene 
is to be acted. If it is to be read, then one person will 
suggest everything without the assistance of any 
properties. 

Illustration from the One Character Play. — Lady 
Macbeth's ''Sleep Walking Scene," when given within 
the play, is interrupted by conversation between the 
doctor and the maid. The setting represents a room 
in the Macbeth castle. A table and a chair or two are 
all the necessary furniture, but it may be as elaborate 
as one wishes. Lady Macbeth will be in negligee and 
shppers, with her hair in braids as if prepared for the 
night. She will enter with a lighted candle in her 
hand and stalk majestically to the table where she 
will place the candle. The other characters will be 
stationed in an alcove up stage whence they will make 
their interpolated remarks. Lady Macbeth's business 
will be mainly subjective. This scene might be given 
by one person as a single number on a program, in a 
setting simply arranged with table, chairs and candle. 
The dialogue of the doctor and the maid would be 



6o DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

omitted, and the whole scene given as a one act play 
in which only one character appears and talks in her 
sleep, but if it is so given, the entertainer's purpose is 
more to exploit the action and the costume, etc., than 
to give the moods of the selection. Here again the 
single entertainer will do better to read than to act, 
but since the excerpt may be arranged in the fonn of 
a soliloquy, it may be acted without violating the law 
of consistency. 

Pro and Con, by Leland T. Powers, was written to 
be acted. It is a typical acting soliloquy requiring 
certain properties, but since it was expected to be 
given by a reader, the arrangement of furniture and 
scenery is very simple. A brief explanation of the 
synopsis will show why the selection should be acted 
rather than given through personating with only 
imaginary properties. 

A young man enters with hat and gloves in one 
hand and his overcoat on his arm. He lays the hat 
and coat on a chair or convenient article of furniture 
and proceeds to put on his gloves while soliloquizing. 
He intends to propose to a certain Margaret, but just 
as he gets the glove half-way on he suddenly thinks 
of all the joys of bachelorhood which he must give up 
if he enters the state of matrimony. Slowly he begins 
to work the glove off until the remembrance of her 
charms turns the scale in her favor. Then he begins 
to rub on the glove rapidly, all the time speaking of 
Margaret's wonderful ways. Gradually he falters 
again as other problems crowd upon his thoughts and 
once more he begins to draw off the glove. He alter- 



ACTING 6i 

hates between the two decisions, showing- his state of 
mind mainly by the unconscious working off and on 
of the glove until finally as he thinks of the mother- 
in-law-to-be, he pulls off the glove with a decisive jerk 
and starts to put it in his pocket, where he discovers 
a letter. The letter is from Margaret herself and in 
reading it he decides to call upon her after all. This 
decision alters, however, when upon turning a page of 
the letter, he learns that she is announcing her en- 
gagement to another man. Blank amazement over- 
spreads his features as one by one the gloves drop 
from, his hands. He slowly tears up the letter, staring 
straight in front of him without saying a word and 
then absent-mindedly begins to rub his fingers as if 
putting on the gloves. It is at this point in the selec- 
tion that we see why the real properties are needed. 
To make this piece of business funny there must be a 
distinction understood on the part of the audience be- 
tween the action of pulling on the real gloves and the 
absent-minded pantomime of the same act. If all the 
properties were imagined, the audience would not 
know the difference in the action when the young 
man becomes absent-minded, and they would lose the 
humor of that particular situation. Since one property 
is essential, the other properties are necessary. To use 
real gloves and an imaginary letter would be inconsist- 
ent and confusing to the audience. Hat and overcoat 
are needed to complete the consistency. Of course, by 
sacrificing that particular bit of humor, the selection 
could be given as well through personating as through 
acting, but since the selection is in soliloquy form and 



62 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

since the properties and scenery are so very simple, 
the entertainer might as well conform to the author's 
evident purpose and give the selection as indicated by 
the stage directions, for he can do so with perfect 
consistency. 

Another popular soliloquy which should be given 
through acting, if the author's purpose is to be carried 
out, is A Mornings Mail, by Edmund Vance Cooke. 
The scene is a simple interior containing a table lit- 
tered with books and papers, and a chair or two. A 
young man enters with his hands full of letters which 
he begins to read. All this could be done through 
personating with imaginary letters, etc., but the fact 
that it is a soliloquy and that one piece of business 
would not be understood were it so given, makes it 
more completely presented through acting. In the 
middle of the young man's soliloquy concerning his 
letters he comes upon an invitation to a card party. 
He lays down his letters and begins to make believe 
deal cards as if already at the party, at the same time 
indulging in some sarcastic remarks to his imaginary 
hostess and guests, and imitating them with affecta- 
tion. This imaginary action with the cards and his 
imaginary guests would not be understood by the 
audience unless contrasted by action with the real let- 
ters and surroundings. Here the audience must not 
imagine any other person in the scene but must under- 
stand that the young man himself is imagining his 
guests. When an audience is led to imagine proper- 
ties, etc., at the start, it will accept the situation and 
imagine everything suggested, but when it sees real 



ACTING 63 

properties at the beginning, naturally it supposes that 
everything to be seen will actually be there in its place. 
Consequently, if any property is omitted and merely 
indicated by literal objective pantomime, the inevitable 
conclusion is that the pantomime is a part of the char- 
acter's imagination and the audience will accept no 
part of such pantomime as referring to real objects. 
The shuffling and dealing of cards in this selection is 
a part of the character's imagination, and since real 
letters and surroundings have been used, the relation- 
ship to the imaginary cards is easily understood. 

Brief Summary. — Before closing the chapter, it 
will be well to crystallize one or two apt phrases 
that may stand as convenient guide-posts in assisting 
the young student to judge when a selection demands 
the art of acting and therefore requires the use of 
properties or whether it may better be given through 
the art of reading. 

In a Play with other actors, he will ALWAYS use 
properties. 

In a One Character Play, or Soliloquy, he will use 
them, if the action of the play would appear INCON- 
SISTENT or INCOMPLETE without them. 

In any Reading where other characters arc to he 
imagined by the audience, the student will NEVER 
use properties, for to imagine characters at the same 
time that real properties are used is confusing and 
often results in utter loss of the real significance of 
the selection. 

It is true that there are some selections which are 
impossible to give consistently, if the author's direc- 



64 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

tions are to be strictly followed. In that case, the 
selection should either be avoided or else reconstructed 
consistently or, if it must be given, frankly presented 
as a burlesque so that the audience may not be con- 
fused or at least feel uncomplimented as to its intelli- 
gence. The example quoted above, The Morning's 
Mail, was originally inconsistent in construction, for 
it made properties essential and then introduced an- 
other character at the close of the scene. In order to 
make it consistent, the other character should be 
omitted, as long as properties are to be used, or else 
the selection should be presented by two actors. A 
third possibility of reconstruction would be to omit the 
portion dealing w^ith the imagination of the young 
man in assuming guests at a card table, and giving 
the selection through personating where all properties 
are imagined. Then the character at the close of the 
selection could also be imagined. The first suggestion 
is the best, however, for the entrance of the second 
character is of practically no importance. 

If the student keeps watch for inconsistencies in 
construction and takes the time to reconstruct them 
according to the standard of consistency, he will have 
very little trouble in working out all his programs to 
suit the taste of all classes of audience without offend- 
ing any. 



CHAPTER VI 

REHEARSING BEGINNERS 

General Remarks. — In the discussion under 

technique of presentation it has already been pointed 
out that it is unwise to keep impressing beginners with 
the fact that they are amateurs. It is better rather to 
assure them that the director will not be satisfied with 
amateur work; that amateurishness belongs only in 
the production given under unskilful coaching, and 
that skilful direction coupled with earnest and con- 
tinuous hard work will present a professional per- 
formance, not, to be sure, equal to that of the world 
renowned companies, but actually far better than the 
average traveling, one-night-stand actors accomplish. 
It is time that the public were brought to under- 
stand that traveling companies do not necessarily pro- 
duce professional work, nor on the other hand, that 
plays produced by college students must be classed as 
amateur. Technically, of course, the student produc- 
tion is amateur, but the term is misleading and has 
done much to make home audiences think they must 
come to the college play prepared to be tolerant and 
critical. The same audience will pay five times as 
much to see a fifth-rate, "slap-stick farce" or a blood- 
curdling melodrama given by a traveling company 
and imagine they are watching a really artistic per- 
formance which they would not think of criticizing. 

65 



66 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

The director should see to it that his cast reahzes 
they are not to be classed as amateurs, but rather as 
beginners. They must not acknowledge themselves 
amateurish but on the other hand must strive for pro- 
fessional excellence. Their work then will be pro- 
fessional, and the audience will learn to respect it. 

Selecting the Cast. — In picking the cast the di- 
rector should look for "fitness to the part," not putting 
his inexperienced students in the leads, but choosing 
according to seniority of experience and adaptability 
for the part, for if a student is given a characteriza- 
tion so unlike himself that he is conscious of his act- 
ing all the time, he will never get away from his 
dependence on coaching and is liable to retain a self- 
consciousness that will rob him ultimately of his 
individuality. He should be allowed first to act in 
parts that are most like himself in mood, voice, car- 
riage, size and build. He is thus enabled to get accus- 
tomed to acting on the stage without being constantly 
corrected and "made over.'' Later when he has had 
more experience in acting out what is natural for him, 
he may safely be directed first in a slightly different 
mood and then gradually as his versatility becomes 
apparent he may be guided into widely different roles. 
It is a mistake to allow beginners to think they can 
step right into star parts and create an impression on 
the audience that will immediately reach Belasco's 
ears and cause him instantly to wire, "Come at once. 
New York is waiting for you." About nine-tenths 
of the aspirants for the stage indulge in just these 
very dreams, and it should be one of the director's 



ACTING 67 

first tasks to dispel the illusion. He should not dis- 
courage real talent when it exists, but he should make 
it thoroughly understood that talent is of no earthly 
use to an individual unless he works and is willing to 
follow implicitly the advice of his director. Talent 
plus long hours of labor makes genius, and if one 
would be considered a genius he must plan to work 
hard and long and patiently at things which seem 
trivial perhaps, before he can hope to get started at 
the big things. It is a good plan to formulate a 
"working up" process whereby the student begins 
with a "bit" and proceeds through utility, ingenue and 
character parts to the leading roles. Some will never 
get further than "bits," but if their genius does not 
entitle them to promotion, they should never be pro- 
moted. It is much better that they be informed at 
this stage of their career that they were not meant for 
actors than to push them into parts through which 
they would soon suffer greater humiliation. In select- 
ing the cast, size and build should of course fit the 
character as far as possible so that there will not be a 
ridiculous situation arising from matching a small 
man with a large woman or a character supposed to 
be a giant substituted by a man of less than five feet. 
The director will have to use good sound judgment in 
deciding whether size and build are factors in picking 
his particular cast. 

After picking the cast the director should instruct 
the members to read the whole play aloud at home, 
before the first rehearsal is called. It is a mistake for 
any member to be ignorant of the whole purpose of 



68 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

the play. If it is not possible for all members to have 
complete copies, the director should read it to them. 

Reading Rehearsal — General Business Given. — 
At the first rehearsal the stage should be marked off 
a little larger than the actual stage on which the final 
performance is to be given. For practice, the cast 
should be allowed plenty of room so that in final pro- 
duction their movements in a smaller space will be 
more concentrated in effect. To allow practice on a 
small stage and then expect the student to expand his 
action in the final performance results in disappoint- 
ment because it is much easier for the beginner to 
work in a small space than in a large one. In expand- 
ing a movement a beginner will become suddenly con- 
scious of himself, and indecision coupled with a cer- 
tain awkwardness of movement will be apparent. 
After the stage is marked off (using chairs to mark 
the entrances) and tables, chairs, stands, etc., are in 
their proper places, the students should walk through 
their parts with manuscript in hand, read the lines, 
and follow the general directions as to crosses and 
turns, making note of places where to sit and rise, 
and getting the correct interpretation of the lines. No 
emotional suggestion is given at this rehearsal, but 
the student should write down each important cross or 
turn on the margin opposite the lines on which the 
business occurs so that in home practice he may re- 
hearse over and over again the line and the business 
together. Business learned separately from the line 
is never carried out with the appearance of spontaneity 
that such work calls for. 



ACTING 69 

Act by Act Procedure. — The second reading re- 
hearsal should be a repetition of the first except that 
the instructor should give no new business other than 
to correct or repeat whatever the student forgets from 
the last rehearsal. The play should be rehearsed act 
by act until the general business of each act is thor- 
oughly memorized with the lines. After each re- 
hearsal while the business is fresh in mind the student 
should go over his part alone at home until every 
movement is inseparably associated with the lines and 
is fixed in its proper sequence. 

Memorizing Lines and Cues. — Each act should be 
memorized before taking up the succeeding one. The 
best method of memorizing is to take the part with the 
cues and typewrite them or write them out by hand. 
This method eliminates the handling of the whole play 
and the wasting of time in reading more than is neces- 
sary for each part. Long uninterrupted speeches 
may be memorized for attention to detailed business 
after the general business and the shorter speeches are 
established in mind. All the silent business and pan- 
tomime are learned best at regular rehearsal so that 
proper timing of the business with the lines of the 
others may be acquired, but the study of lines and 
general business should be done at home. 

Detailed Business. — After the third rehearsal of 
each act no book should be permitted in the student's 
hand. All lines should have been memorized so that 
the student is free to attend to the detailed business 
which is not suggested by the director until the lines 
are at least roughly in mind, A prompter should be 



70 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

present, but positively no manuscript should be al- 
lowed in the hands of the performer. 

The director should be independent of the author's 
suggestion as to business. A play should be produced 
according to the director's interpretation of the 
thought and purpose of the play. The author may 
have suggested business, but it may not coincide with 
the director's interpretation and he should not feel 
bound to follow it out. After once being sure of the 
author's thought and purpose the director may employ 
whatever manner he sees fit. He is almost always 
better able to judge the values of stage business than 
the author. 

No actor should presume to offer suggestions unless 
asked by the director. One interpretation must be 
consistent throughout and that must be the director's, 
not the individual actor's no matter how experienced 
he may be. 

The director must be alive to all situations and be 
constantly originating business consistent at all points 
with the play. The slightest detail should not escape 
his notice for every one must be worked out for the 
student and practised until it becomes a registered 
part of the general action. The director will have to 
demonstrate to the beginner who will frankly imitate, 
for imitation is the first step in any process of learn- 
ing. Every move must be copied and rehearsed over 
and over again. The director should insist that the 
student watch him closely while he is illustrating the 
business. 

After a student has been in several plays a certain 



ACTING 71 

liberty may be allowed him in the personal business he 
shall attach to the reading of lines that do not concern 
another's action. He may be allowed to work out his 
own business provided it is in accordance with the 
director's interpretation. When working with others, 
however, the action is "team-work," and the director 
becomes the coach, who makes every act consistent. 
In dramatic art a monarchy is better than a democracy 
since the director is solely responsible for the success 
or failure of a performance. 

The director will find that stage business works out 
best with beginners if he suggests the business pro- 
gressively from the general to more and more specific 
detail until he finally rounds it out with minute direc- 
tions in personal expression, such as the look of 
surprise, anger, joy, etc. 

Many people are of the opinion that it is necessary 
for the actor in order to be really artistic that he 
actually feel every emotion he portrays every time he 
acts. Nothing could be further from the truth, for 
the expression of the emotions becomes registered and 
reflexive just as a simple automatic motion is regis- 
tered. We learn to dress in the morning without 
being conscious of our movements. We can learn to 
express joy, anger, contempt or any of the emotions 
without being conscious of the emotion at all. At 
first in rehearsing, the student must be led to feel 
genuinely and then to practise the resulting action 
until it is registered and becomes automatic with the 
repetition of the lines. 

Property Rehearsal. — As soon as possible after 



72 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

the book is dropped, the rehearsal should employ the 
properties or at least substitutes for the properties. 
The student should become accustomed to handling 
the articles while speaking the lines. If the property- 
rehearsal is delayed until the last thing often such 
confusion results that one would think there had been 
no rehearsing at all. Mere pantomime with imaginary 
properties, especially by the inexperienced beginner, 
does not make a satisfactory or permanent impression. 
The pantomime is never done twice alike but the 
actual manipulating of the objects themselves soon 
becomes automatic. Of course, it is impossible to 
have all the properties in rehearsals at the very first, 
but such things as newspapers, letters, pencils, pen 
and ink, bells, dishes, glasses, bottles, books, etc., can 
always be kept on hand for the practice rehearsals. 
Properties that can not be had until the night of dress 
rehearsal may be substituted by articles that feel like 
them, such as a cigar box for a jewel casket; a short 
stick for a stove poker, or a broom handle for a spear. 

The director must see that the young beginner in 
picking up books or magazines for silent perusal 
keeps his eye actually on the page and continually 
glances back and forth along the page as in real read- 
ing. Many beginners merely stare at the page or over 
it — anywhere but the place they should look. If the 
character is supposed to be reading, his actions should 
indicate it. 

It is not a good plan to allow students to use real 
cigars, cigarettes or tobacco in ordinary practice. A 
short pencil will do. It will give practically the same 



ACTING 73 

''feel" while practising and is not half so annoying to 
the ladies of the cast. When it is time for the final 
rehearsal the use of the tobacco may then be permitted. 

While rehearsing a dinner scene in which many 
dishes and utensils are used, the director can not take 
too much pains in timing the handling of articles with 
the progress of the lines. It must be done noiselessly 
and at the same time swiftly and accurately. These 
scenes should be rehearsed again and again until 
every move is reflexive and automatic. 

Great attention must be paid to all music cues, 
which should be known by the orchestra or the music 
director behind the scenes. He must know at what 
point to start the music, when to let it die down grad- 
ually, when it is to swell and when to stop. There 
should be a special music rehearsal in which these 
parts are practised over and over until everything is 
synchronous. 

When an actor who does not play the piano is given 
a part requiring that he play on the stage, it is unfor- 
tunate but sometimes unavoidable. In such a case, 
there must be days of special training with a com- 
petent musician who will play back of the scenes while 
the actor goes through the motions before the au- 
dience. By constant practice this arrangement may 
be brought about so skilfully that the audience is 
often unaware that the actor is not the musician. 

Polish. — After the general rehearsals have been 
in progress some time, there will appear certain 
scenes that are particularly effective and certain ones 
that are weak. There should be special rehearsals 



74 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

called for the weak scenes, and these should be worked 
over separately until they are as effective as the oth- 
ers. Nearly always there will be one or two of the 
actors who are not developing their parts as rapidly 
as the others. The director should find time to do a 
little private coaching in these cases. Nothing should 
be left undone that will make the whole cast work in 
unison and with a good distribution of important 
business. 

The "star" system should never be suggested 
among beginners. It is unfortunate that it exists 
among professional companies, but commercialism has 
made it inevitable. The cast for school production 
should not be allowed to get the impression that the 
part usually played by a star is necessarily the leading 
part. Opportunity to do good work should not all be 
given to the leads, but should be distributed among 
the characters as every good play directs. In a good 
play, the leading part does not monopolize all the 
good business. It may have a major portion center 
around the hero or heroine, but it would be unbalanced 
and unreal to make him the center of attention at all 
times. Wherever this is done it is usually the fault 
of a conceited, pampered star vv'ho imagines the public 
cares nothing about any part of the play except his, so 
he makes every bit of business pertain to him and 
"cuts" all that might lead the attention to others of 
the cast. A good director will see to it that every 
character of the play has many opportunities to make 
his part a recognized factor in the play as a whole. 

In these last few rehearsals for "polish" the director 



ACTING 75 

should watch carefully the minutest' detail in line in- 
terpretation and business, and wherever possible he 
should correct the imperfections. He should add a 
touch here and there for new personal color if it will 
make the scene more intimate and life-like. Business 
that has not developed well or proved effective may 
be eliminated and other business substituted. Even a 
change in an entrance or a cross or turn may be made 
at the last moment, if the strengthening of the scene 
demands, but as a rule the fewer changes the better. 
There should be no changes back and forth. If the 
director, for instance, is undecided as to whether the 
actor should go to the back of a certain chair or sit at 
the foot of the lounge, let him give one direction and 
continue rehearsals for that until he is sure it should 
be changed. Then toward the last it can be changed 
without difficulty, but if on one day he thinks the 
back of the chair best, then on the next day changes 
to the foot of the lounge, and finally after seesawing" 
for several rehearsals, changes back to the original 
position, the beginner in acting will be so confused 
there is no telling what he may do at the final produc- 
tion. The director must decide upon one way and 
keep that until he is sure it will not do, then he may 
change to the other, but a third change to the same 
piece of business is confusing. 

Many things could be said regarding the proper 
way to shake hands in greeting or in farewell, the 
attitude of consoling one in grief, or one's bearing in 
making love, but these things are best left to the tact- 
ful and cultured director whose good taste will enable 



^(> DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

him to see what is and what is not fitting in such 
cases. It may not be out of place, however, to say 
that a love scene must be acted just right or the whole 
play will be tolerantly called "amateur." Young peo- 
ple are so self-conscious when it comes to acting a love 
scene that it is hard to get results that will not look 
stilted or else over-done and sentimental. In the first 
place the director must make clear that an audience 
will not make fun of the actor Avho does not reveal 
himself in the scene. The moment an actor becomes 
conscious of himself and acts embarrassed the spell is 
broken. Love scenes should not be ridiculously sen- 
timental, but on the other hand there must be no hes- 
itancy to embrace or to give the stage kiss, if that is 
what the part calls for. The audience will ridicule 
the half-way attempts at love making when obviously 
the part calls for a full representation. The stage 
director should make clear that the audience is not to 
think of the player but of the character he represents. 
If the actors show hesitation and embarrassment then 
the attention of the audience reverts to the players 
themselves and the characters represented are lost for 
the moment. 

The success of love scenes depends almost wholly 
upon the director. If he is a man of taste and discre- 
tion, he will see to it that his players are not needlessly 
embarrassed in first rehearsal. Later, when the spirit 
of the scene is felt thoroughly, the action should be 
introduced and all embarrassment dispelled immedi- 
ately by calling the attention of the players to the fact 
that they are not amateurs ; that they are representing 






ACTING ^j 

two serious people in a scene calling for the utmost 
delicacy of treatment; that any attempt at levity or 
nonsense in the beginning is a serious hindrance to the 
ultimate success of the scene, and that its effect on 
the audience will depend upon the ease and lack of 
self-consciousness with which the little intimate 
touches — ^the clasp of hand, the embrace or the kiss — 
are carried out. Many directors are so unwilling to 
tell the players to kiss that they will change the stage 
business, or what is worse, introduce a salute so ab- 
surdly unlike the real caress that the audience notices 
the inconsistency and laughs at **the amateurish 
trick." Such scenes are no place for false ideas of 
propriety and convention. While there is rarely need 
for an actual kiss, there is frequently necessity for 
the ''stage kiss" which looks exactly like a real one, 
and can be given without in the least offending good 
taste or true ideals of propriety. The director should 
not be led astray by the prudish notion that young 
people should never be allowed to embrace on the 
stage. Of course, beginners should not be launched 
into plays which include elaborate love scenes. Much 
less should they be allowed to play in the problem 
plays of the day, but plays offering simple situations 
calling for ordinary salutations and caresses may be 
handled with ease and with perfect regard for con- 
vention. It is absurd, for instance, when a scene rep- 
resenting a father returning to his daughter after a 
long absence, is portrayed by the two people standing 
three feet apart and gravely shaking hands. It is 
hardly less ridiculous to see the father make the initial 



78 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

movement toward offering the kiss and then rest his 
chin on her shoulder and put his nose in her back 
hair while her face wholly visible to the audience re- 
mains as surel}^ unkissed as that of the old maid in 
King Dodo. If the embrace and salute are made sim- 
ply and without hesitation, the audience will like the 
scene and never think of laughing at the players. It 
should be remembered that an embrace at arm's length 
is impossible. There are, of course, many situations 
requiring merely the laying of the hands on the 
shoulders, but where a real embrace would naturally 
be effected in real life, such as the caress between 
father and daughter, husband and wife, or mother and 
son, a real embrace is necessary on the stage. If the 
characters represented are supposed to be lovers or a 
couple just becoming engaged, the manner of the em- 
brace or the caress should be much more formal 
(unless, of course, the scene is broad comedy), but it 
should not be stiff or unnatural. 

Many people criticize the realistic presentation of 
love scenes on the ground that it is not safe for young 
people ; that it leads to unconventional habits, and that 
the participants of such scenes are liable to think they 
are actually in love. To this let it be said that if the 
director is a man of right principles and sound peda- 
gogy, he will know his players and will not cast the 
sentimental, susceptible young people in these scenes. 
Young people of good sense will be taught poise, self- 
control and dignity through the training offered in 
love scenes, and later in real life they will use better 
judgment for having had this systematic training on 
the stage. 



ACTING 79 

The Dress Rehearsal with Effects. — The purpose 
of the dress rehearsal is to accustom the player to his 
dress ; to acquaint him with the dimensions of the final 
set and readjust himself to distances, location of the 
furniture and the exits; to gauge the time for quick 
changes of costume, and to handle the properties that 
have not been available before dress rehearsal, such as 
swords, shields, guns, etc., which require special at- 
tention. All the business of disposing of hats, over- 
coats and wraps must be watched carefully for often 
a slight mistake in removing a coat or placing a hat 
on the hatrack will ruin the effect of a scene. 

Since the first rehearsals have been conducted on a 
larger scale of distances than the final set of the 
scene, all the action now at the dress rehearsal be- 
comes more concentrated and hence more effective. 
It is much easier to express power in the rendition of 
a line while walking three feet than to speak the same 
line while walking six or eight feet. For instance, in 
previous rehearsals let us suppose the distance from 
the fireplace, left, to the sofa, right, has been 
eighteen feet. The young man standing by the fire- 
place has been told to walk suddenly over to the girl 
on the sofa and speak more intently. He has been 
practising the speech and the sudden stride over ap- 
proximately fifteen feet. Now in the dress rehearsal, 
the distance is but a little over nine feet. What is the 
result? The sudden movement becomes more abrupt, 
the speech more concentrated in time and intensity. 

The dress rehearsal gives the first opportunity for 
the actors to work with the stage mechanic and with 



8o DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

the timing of their lines with the actual working of the 
effects including the light changes and the accompany- 
ing sounds back of the scenes. 

At the dress rehearsal the prompter should be on 
hand in the Right Tormentor entrance, and he should 
be instructed to keep his eyes on the lines at all times. 
His responsibility should not be divided with the direct- 
or's or the stage manager's. His work is to be ready 
to prompt the line that might fail to be remembered. 
The director should see to the calls, the entrances, the 
rings and knocks, the light cues and the business of 
the effects while the stage manager should have the 
responsibility of the furniture, the scenery and the 
properties that are to be in place at the opening of the 
act. 

The dress rehearsal should not be the final rehears- 
al. There should be at least a rehearsal of certain 
scenes that went badly at the dress rehearsal. Certain 
corrections will appear necessary, for the students are 
unaccustomed to the real stage and its dimensions, and 
they should have opportunity to work out the little 
problems that appeared for the first time in the dress 
rehearsal. Many directors are superstitlously willing 
to leave the final performances to chance, and quote 
the ridiculous old saying that "a rotten dress rehearsal 
insures a good performance." It is much safer to go 
over some of the scenes that were "rotten" in dress 
rehearsal and give the students a chance to improve 
them. 

Final Rehearsal. — The final rehearsal should be 
held the day after the dress rehearsal and should be 



ACTING 8i 

devoted solely to the correcting of errors made at the 
dress rehearsal. Old busmess or directions should not 
be considered. Words of encouragement when they 
are deserved should be given, and the director should 
not feel that it is necessary to curse and swear at the 
actors who make mistakes at a dress rehearsal. Some 
directors who do so, make the excuse that it puts the 
actors on their mettle. As a matter of fact pessimism 
or loss of temper on the part of the director can do 
more harm than the lack of a final rehearsal may in- 
flict. It should be remembered that it is not necessary 
for the director to make the cast hate him in order to 
get professional results. Such a conception is the out- 
growth of ignorance and stupidity. If courteous criti- 
cisms do not make the student honestly set to work to 
overcome his faults, it is better that he be dismissed 
at once from the cast. It is the duty of every director 
to use the utmost patience in helping the discouraged 
member to revive interest and apply himself to more 
difficult work. 

A Final Word. — Before closing the discussion on 
Acting a final word must be said regarding the literal 
reproduction of the text which contains profanity and 
coarse expressions. It sometimes happens that a char- 
acter is supposed to be unrefined or even downright 
evil and that his language abounds in epithets and 
unpleasant phrases. The beginner, if he has been 
brought up in an atmosphere of refinement, naturally 
hesitates to use some of the coarser expressions and 
asks the director what to do about them. At this 
point the director must use the greatest care and judg- 



82 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

ment. Where an experienced actor might carry off 
the scene without reflection upon his own good taste, 
the beginner is apt to ruin the scene and at the same 
time his own reputation by his lack of power to create 
the character apart from himself. Much difficulty 
may be overcome if the director is a good judge of 
people, for he will not cast a timid, self-conscious actor 
in such a part. Plays that abound in profanity should 
never be selected for beginners. There are plenty of 
good plays which deal in refined characters and situa- 
tions so that the director need not feel compelled to 
choose the type that caters to unrefined tastes. When, 
however, it seems necessary to represent a character 
that is somewhat rough in contrast to the others, the 
director can almost always reduce the unpleasant ex- 
pressions to the minimum and still keep the suggestion 
of the character. One should not be too prudish 
about the occasional use of "damn" and ''hell." These 
w^ords are not actually profane, and although they 
sometimes have an unpleasant effect on refined ears, 
they are no worse than "darn" or "hades" which are 
sometimes substituted in a weak and ridiculouslv 
effeminate manner. Either the words should be 
omitted altogether or else used as they appear in the 
text. The use of terms referring to the Deity must 
certainly be viewed in a different light. There is very 
rarely need of actual blasphemy on the stage, and it 
may be stated as a well established principle that plays 
requiring such irreverence should not be accepted for 
beginners. It is not necessary to remark that vulgar 
or obscene language is never excusable on the stage. 



I 



ACTING 83 

There are, however, false notions as to what are im- 
proper expressions and it is on record that one prud- 
ish and falsely modest director of dramatics objected 
to the words "leg" and "nightgown" and asked her 
students to substitute the words "limb" and "robe-de- 
nuit" in order that the performance might be refined. 
Common sense and natural purity of soul will discrim- 
inate between objectionable words and words that are 
only made wrong by false standards of propriety and 
culture. 

One of the beautiful features of stage directing is 
the creating of pictures in the scenes — the grouping of 
characters so that there is constant balance and at the 
same time variety in the pose of different groups. To 
make the groups seem natural and to keep up the 
action of the scene at the same time while the pictures 
are ever changing and taking different forms, is the 
aim of every truly artistic director. 

Finally, let it be remembered that the difference 
between real amateur productions and the professional 
student production should exist in the method of train- 
ing and not in the result at the public performance of 
the play. 



PART TWO 
Reading 



CHAPTER VII 

GENERAL DISCUSSION 

Definition of Reading. — The art of Reading refers 
to all that class of presentation on the platform by one 
person without the aid of special scenery, properties, 
stage furniture, special costumes, make-up or mechani- 
cal effects of any kind, and is always distinguished 
from One Character Acting by the absence of these 
accessories. 

The Relationship of Reading to Acting. — (i.) The 
Arts Themselves. While Acting has been already dis- 
cussed as the art of choosing essential details in the 
production of a realistic impression, Reading will be 
considered as the art of choosing from essential details 
the kind and number necessary to produce an imagina- 
tive and general impression capable of being inter- 
preted according to the individual experiences of the 
auditors. The number and kind of details chosen are 
determined largely by the type of reading to be 
presented. 

In all the discussion which follows relative to the 
art of the Reader, it is to be understood that but one 
person is concerned in the rendition of any piece of 
literature. In leaving the subject of Acting, we have 
left all forms of ensemble or company performance, 
and are concerned solely with the work of a single 
individual, man or woman, on the platform. 

87 



88 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

In speaking of "the platform" we refer to the bare 
space occupied by the Reader, in contradistinction to 
the ''stage" which always presupposes a larger space 
appropriately furnished with tables, chairs, settees, 
and three walls with doors and windows or back drop 
curtains and wings representing an exterior scene. 
The platform may be entirely bare or may have for 
convenience a plain chair or two and a small stand. 
These articles of furniture, however, never become an 
integral part of a scene, and are merely used to give 
a pleasant, comfortable background for the speaker. 
(2.) The Artists Compared. There are still many 
readers and teachers of elocution who make no distinc- 
tion between the Reader and the Actor or their respec- 
tive arts, and who are constantly confusing them in 
the attempt to entertain their audiences. It should be 
understood that from the very nature of things, the 
Reader is limited in w^hat he may do in presenting 
literature which normally requires several persons and 
a force of stage mechanics to produce. A brief resume 
of the province of the Actor and the Reader at this 
point will assist in keeping in mind the relative require- 
ments of their art. 

The Actor is always one character, and remains that 
one character in make-up and appropriate costume 
throughout the play ; he uses all properties described 
and indicated to be included in the play, and more 
often than not, he is assisted by other persons in the 
performance. The Reader, on the other hand, may 
represent one or many characters during the rendition 
of any type of literature, always, however, holding 



READING 89 

himself in readiness to change instantly from one 
character to another, or in almost the same breath to 
assume direct address or narration in giving explana- 
tory matter to his audience; he never uses properties, 
make-up, costumes, etc., and he is never assisted by 
others in the presentation of literature. 

While it is occasionally true that an actor some- 
times encroaches on the reader's art, yet it is not 
objectionable nor confusing to the audience. For 
instance, the actor tries sometimes to be intensely im- 
aginative and to do a great deal of suggesting (on his 
part). This is, of course, perfectly legitimate in his 
individual work of facial expression and gesture, if it 
is not obviously inconsistent with the arrangement of 
the play. When, however, the other actors and sur- 
roundings are realistic and the atmosphere is realistic, 
it is not likely the audience will suspect the subtler 
suggestions, and of course will miss them if they are 
given. Sheridan's The Critic is an admirable example 
of the absurdity in overdoing the suggestiveness in 
the play. Puff, Sneer and Dangle are witnessing 
Puffs latest play, and as one of the characters enters, 
shakes his head, and exits without a word. Sneer says 
to Puff, 

Sneer: What did he mean by shaking his head so? 

Puff: Why, by the shake of his head he gave you 
to understand that even though they had more 
justice in their cause and wisdom in their 
measure — yet, if there was not a greater spirit 
shown on the part of the people, the country 



90 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

would at last fall a sacrifice to the hostile 

ambition of the Spanish monarchy. 
Sneer: The devil! Did he mean all that by the shake 

of his head? 
Puff: Every word of it — if he shook it as I taught 

him. 

On the other hand the actor would be overdoing 
the realism if he were to indicate by a liiie that he 
would sit in a certain spot for two hours, and then 
straightway do so while the audience waited. 

The reader, in turn, encroaches on the actor's art 
when he brings in properties, make-up or special cos- 
tumes in a selection requiring several characters to be 
represented. A striking example of such an encroach- 
ment occurs in the case of a rather prominent reader 
of Wilson Barrett's The Sign of the Cross. The 
young woman appears in the costume of JMercia, with 
long flowing hair and a band of ribbon around her 
head. She carries a crucifix appending from a string 
of beads hung about her neck. Naturally while she is 
speaking the lines of Mercia, no great inconsistency 
appears, but when the audience is expected to see the 
villain Tigilenus stalk about in that same flowing 
gown and loose hair, and the next moment readjust 
its imagination in order to conceive the manly but 
pagan Marcus decorated by the beads and crucifix, it 
is liable to be more or less confused in the picture. 
Such a performance is inconsistent from two points of 
view: First, it is no compliment to an intelligent 
audience to assume that it is unable to understand the 



READING 91 

character of Mercia unless she appears in full regalia, 
and second, it is rather unfair to force their imagina- 
tion to do double duty and be obliged to undress one 
character before conceiving the others. Aside from 
that, the reader who does her work in this way so 
confuses realism with imagination that more often 
than not the audience goes home with a very hazy 
memory of beautiful tones, a lovely woman of the 
Middle Ages, a crucifix, and a rather disconnected idea 
of the story. If the audience is an intelligent one it 
will understand the story but will feel uncompli- 
mented. If it is a popular audience, it will be affected 
by the emotion and the sentiment as well as the spec- 
tacular display of costume and graceful action, but the 
literature with its beauty and subtle meaning will be 
lost upon them. The reader may appeal to the imagi- 
nation of the popular audience as well as to the culti- 
vated audience, if he is consistent in his appeal. It is 
certainly not consistent at one moment to require no 
imagination on the part of the audience while holding 
up the real crucifix, and the next moment expect the 
audience to see Tigilenus with his sword held aloft 
when there is no sword to be seen! It is far easier 
to lead the audience to imagine both crucifix and 
sword. Since both can not be used literally and since 
a thousand other articles mentioned in connection with 
the rendition can not be actually shown, it is far more 
artistic to make suggestion inclusive of everything — 
costume as well : — and allow the audience to imagine 
the scene apart from the reader herself. 

The reader should not attempt to be an actor while 



92 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

reading. The danger of inconsistency and even ab- 
surdity in presentation is too great. It is true that 
perhaps the majority of people in an audience do not 
realize the inconsistency, and it is just as true that 
many who look at a bad painting do not see that it 
may be out of perspective or inconsistent in its lights 
and shadows or inharmonious in color. Yet the fact 
remains that it is bad art. That the audience is not 
conscious of its loss, is no reason for the reader to 
keep up the deception. While the reader is calling 
attention to such accidentals as costume and property, 
and constantly exhibiting movements which attract 
the thought to the mode and not the matter, the au- 
dience is losing all the finer and more subtle distinc- 
tions in thought and emotion. 

One or two other examples may be given to show 
how the audience is cheated in such exhibitions. 

Several years ago at a well-known college in the 
East, a reading of Romeo and Juliet was advertised to 
be given by the wife of one of the instructors. The 
young woman was a graduate of a popular school of 
oratory, and her appearance was anticipated with a 
great deal of pleasure. Imagine the surprise of the 
audience when they saw upon the rise of the curtain 
a rather curious framework of wood covered with 
white muslin and representing (after a moment's 
thought) Juliet's balcony in the middle of a perfectly 
bare floor. The ingenious piece of stage carpentry 
stood about six feet high. There was a ripple of 
laughter over the audience and then followed a hush 
for the young woman in the complete costume and 



READING 93 

make-up of Juliet had appeared. To describe her 
antics would require more space than can be allotted 
to this illustration, but she skipped from one side of 
the stage to the other in her attempt to act out each 
character in his crosses and little inconsequential 
actions, until she came to the balcony scene. Here 
she performed her greatest feat in Japanese equi- 
libration. She dodged into the little umbrella-shaped 
balcony and spoke Juliet's impassioned lines. Then 
she swung out and around and down on her knees for 
Romeo — and back again for Juliet's sigh! When it 
was time for the old nurse to call her, she put her 
hand to her mouth (gracefully, of course) and shouted 
"Juliet!" in the cracked voice of an octogenarian. 
Then, as Juliet again, in blissful repose on the rail of 
the improvised balcony, she sweetly answered, "Anon !" 
Later the scene with Peter and the nurse called forth 
the young woman's powers of literal characterization 
which she evidenced by waddling clear across the 
stage (still in Juliet's costume of course) in a repre- 
sentation of the stupid Peter, seating herself on an 
upturned pail and holding conversation (using more 
back-hand action) with the old nurse supposedly 
behind the scene. 

At the close of the exhibition there were a few who 
felt it was necessary to congratulate the performer, 
but be it said to the credit of that college audience, 
the majority present were disappointed. A year or 
two before, one of America's greatest readers had 
given the same reading, standing (as she ought) in 
the middle of the platform, and scarcely moving two 



94 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

steps to right or left during the entire rendition, yet 
she had entranced her audience. The contrast was so 
great and the memory of the true reading so vivid that 
the audience as a whole felt they had been cheated in 
the later performance. The young woman herself was 
not so much to blame. She had been taught that such 
exhibition was art and that such a rendition showed 
cleverness and versatility. She had not been allowed 
to use her own judgment and therefore could not see 
that a reader can not encroach upon the actor's art 
without serious loss to the audience. 

The reader, on the other hand, may overdo his sug- 
gestion sometimes, just as the actor in sitting still two 
hours while the audience waits, would be overdoing 
the realism. There comes to mind a certain teacher of 
expression who once offered the amazing suggestion 
that in giving Dickens' Christmas Carol the words of 
the Ghosts should never be spoken. The professor 
said expressive pantomime should be manifested by 
Scrooge as if he were seeing a ghost and every now 
and then Scrooge should shudder and say, for instance, 
**You said your name was Marley?" or "You said 
you could sit down?'' In other words the professor 
w^ould rearrange the whole scene in monologue form 
because, since there is no such thing as a ghost, it 
should be merely suggested! In the course of conver- 
sation with the professor, one of his interested listen- 
ers hinted that since he had gone so far In the mat- 
ter of suggestion, why not merely lie down on the 
stage and let the audience imagine all of Scrooge's 
dream ! This seemed to be about the last word in lead- 
ing an audience to an imaginative understanding. 



READING 95 

The reader often makes the same mistake in judging 
the actor that the actor makes in judging the reader. 
He says, "The actor's work is simple, very simple — 
why anybody can do this — make this or that face — get 
down on all fours, etc., but it requires art to be a 
reader!" The actor in turn depreciates the reader 
"because," he says, "the reader is too elocutionary," 
whatever that is. "Anybody," he continues, "can get 
up and recite with a big voice and graceful gestures 
Ciirfeiv Must A^ot Ring To-night, but it requires art 
to take the point of view of a character totally unlike 
yourself and maintain it consistently throughout a 
play." Both are right and both are wrong. Each is 
right in saying that it takes art to do the work he 
champions. Each is wrong in depreciating the other's 
art and calling it simple and easy for anybody. They 
are two different arts and require different develop- 
ment, but they are both art. 

In Part Three of this book, methods of study in the 
two arts will be suggested, and it will be shown that 
the reader's art grows out of the actor's art. 

The Three Types of Presentation for the Reader. 
— (i.) Personating. Personating will be shown in a 
later chapter as the nearest approach to acting a reader 
may make without encroaching upon the art of the 
actor. It is not to be confused with the original mean- 
ing of the term which applied to the actor in his 
assumption of a character, but is to be understood in 
all the discussion of the text to refer to the art of the 
reader and not to that of the actor. 
(2.) Impersonutive Reading. Impersonative Read- 
ing is the intermediate step between Personating and 



96 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Pure Reading. Here the method of presentation is 
very much less reaUstic and correspondingly more 
suggestive than personating. It is the kind of presen- 
tation best adapted to all sorts of comedy and character 
readings and will be discussed in a chapter exclusively 
devoted to this type of treatment. 
(^.) Pure Reading. Pure Reading is the highest 
type of suggestive presentation and will be discussed 
in connection with the rendition of the classics and 
all higher forms of literature appreciated for their 
beauty of thought and composition. 

The Determining Factors in Making the Subdi- 
visions. — (i.) The Autho'/s Purpose. It has been 
shown that most literature in play form was intended 
for acting, for the very nature of the stage directions 
and the constant mention of properties to be used, 
demonstrate that the author's purpose was to have 
actors present a realistic performance with complete 
scenery and stage equipment. Therefore, in the case 
of a play, if we follow the author's purpose we shall 
be obliged to produce it with a company of actors in 
appropriate surroundings. A reader, however, if he 
chooses to present a play must frankly depart from 
the author's purpose since it is obviously impossible 
for one person to do all that the author requires. By 
changing the form of the composition from pure dia- 
logue to descriptive dialogue in the present tense, a 
reader may present it thus transformed into a Charac- 
ter Play or a Reading Play, choosing to make promi- 
nent the mood or the characterization of the piece 
rather than the scene or the complete action. Ordinar- 



READING 97 

ily it is to be understood, then, that the author's original 
purpose is disregarded when a play is to be presented 
by a reader. In all other forms of Hterature, however, 
the author's purpose should be the first consideration 
of the reader in order to determine which type of the 
reader's art is best suited to the selection under all 
normal conditions. 

There are three key words, or phrases, which may 
be used to indicate the author's purpose found in the 
different form.s of literary composition available for 
the reader's art. They are: Literal Action, Eccentric or 
Comedy Characterization and Mood. If a certain 
piece of composition shows unmistakably that the 
author intended literal action to be the most important 
factor in its delivery, the reader knows that personat- 
ing is the type of presentation he should use ; if, how- 
ever, the selection does not indicate that literal action 
is necessary but that eccentric or comedy characteriza- 
tion was the purpose, the reader will use impersonative 
reading, but if neither literal action nor eccentric 
characterization is important, there remains only the 
expression of mood as the essential feature of the 
piece, and the reader should present it through pure 
reading. 

(2.) The Literary Composition. There are seven 
distinct forms of literary composition which, singly or 
in combination, help the student to recognize the sev- 
eral types of selection suitable for the reader. 

Exposition and Argumentation are not adapted to 
the presentation by a reader so in these pages no 
further mention of them will be made. 



98 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Narration and Description are already familiar to 
the student of English, and these two general forms 
embrace the specific forms known more intimately by 
the public reader as soliloquy, implied dialogue, direct 
address^ descriptive dialogue, pure narration, pure de- 
scription and lyric composition.''^ 

The first three forms are written in the first person 
and always represent but one speaking character. If 
the composition represents meditation, or soliloquy, 
the selection is called a Soliloquy (Personated Solilo- 
quy, Character Soliloquy or Reading Soliloquy accord- 
ing to the author's purpose) ; if it is implied dialogue, 
or composition giving but one side of a supposed 
conversation, the selection is called a Monologue (Per- 
sonated Monologue, Character Monologue or Reading 
Monologue according to the author's purpose) ; if di- 
rect address in which a comedy or eccentric speaker 
is represented as talking directly to a supposed 
audience, it is an Eccentric Address (a normal charac- 
ter speaking would classify the piece under Declama- 
tion which really belongs in the field of oratory rather 
than in reading) ; if the composition comprises a 
series of eccentric addresses or single uninterrupted 
speeches, connected by explanatory matter into one 
theme, the selection is a Character Series. 

The aforementioned three forms of literary com- 
position are the only forms that may be given consist- 
ently through personating, and then only when the 
author's purpose denotes literal action as the predom- 



*See Appendix for specific definition. 



READING 99 

inating requirement. The other four forms are the 
forms best adapted to impersonatiz'e reading or pure 
reading and may be found in either the first or third 
person. If the composition is descriptive dialogue 
(narration containing conversations interwoven with 
descriptive phrases or paragraphs of pure narration) 
the selection is either a Character Narrative or a Nar- 
rative Reading according to the author's purpose; if 
the composition is pure narration or pure description, 
it is respectively Narrative Reading or Descriptive 
Reading, If the composition is in any of the forego- 
ing forms, but is idealistic and universal in its appeal, 
representing a universal mood rather than the mood 
of any particular individual, it is lyric and is called a 
Lyric Reading. 

Besides the seven forms of composition suitable to 
the reader, we have already mentioned the pure dia- 
logue form existent only in plays for acting. This 
form, however, may be changed to descriptive dia- 
logue for the reader and the selection is then called a 
Character Play or a Reading Play according to the 
author's purpose. 

(^.) Method of Classifying a Selection Quickly. 
When the reader examines a selection with a view to 
presentation, he may proceed logically in the following- 
manner: Let us suppose that the selection is a scene 
from Jidius Ccesar. Since the form is pure dialogue, 
we see at once the author's original purpose was to 
present it through acting, with scenes and all accesso- 
ries. The reader, recognizing his limitations, will dis- 
regard the author's purpose and see for himself what 



100 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

the next important factors are. Since more than one 
character is represented in speech, the reader will see 
that he can not consistently give the selection through 
personating, so he next asks himself whether the chief 
characters are sufficiently eccentric to warrant im- 
personative reading. Obviously Caesar, Brutus, An- 
tony, Cassius, etc., are normal characters, so the 
reader decides that after changing the pure dialogue 
to present tense, descriptive dialogue, he will present 
the play through pure reading. 

Let us take another example — an arrangement from 
Hamlet giving merely the meditation speech of Ham- 
let. The form of composition is soliloquy. Since the 
arrangement is originally from a pure dialogue to be 
acted, the reader might be tempted to become the actor 
for the time and present the selection in a complete 
setting. There would be nothing inconsistent in this 
at all. However, in studying the selection further, the 
reader realizes that in this particular excerpt from the 
play, nothing but Hamlet's great mood is actually 
necessary, so he decides to present it through pure 
reading. 

One more example may be helpful. The selection 
is Mark Twain's Our Guides. The form of composi- 
tion is descriptive dialogue in narration and is written 
in the first person. Since it is in first person, the 
reader's first thought is that it may be implied dia- 
logue or direct address. Reading further, however, 
he sees that the narrator is not important in a present 
tense situation or as an eccentric character telling a 
tale, neither is literal action called for, so the reader 



READING loi 

decides that personating will not be necessary. In the 
narration there appear two eccentric characters in 
conversation and since the narrator himself is so unim- 
portant that the tale could as well be told in the third 
person, the selection is immediately classed as a Char- 
acter Narrative and should be given through imper- 
sonative reading.''^ 

General Limitations in Attitude and in Sex. — 
(i.) Bearing in Reading (Pure or Imp er sanative) 
Compared to Bearing in Personating. The reader 
while personating is not so severely limited in his bear- 
ing as he is in reading. He may walk about the plat- 
form assuming literally the gait of the character 
represented; he may sit, rise, kneel, fall, jump, skip 
or dance ; he may do all the literal and realistic action 
that an actor would accomplish except to turn his back 
completely on his audience or to lie down upon the 
platform. These latter movements are never required 
of personating, for personating is a shade more imag- 
inative than acting and requires the constant command 
of the speaker over the audience, an accomplishment 
which would be jeopardized were he to turn his back 
completely or were he to come so far off his dignity 
as to lie down on the floor — or even on a settee if such 
a piece of furniture were permitted. The actor is not 
so limited because the scenery surroundings and the 



*See Diagram A in the Introduction, and beginning at the 
left, read toward the right, applying the test to each division, 
eliminating in order the key-notes, literal action, and eccentric 
or comedy characterization, urMiil mood is reached, or stop- 
ping at the division v^hose key-note can not be eliminated. 



102 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

other characters present may command the attention 
of the audience. The dignity of the actor himself is 
never considered apart from the character he repre- 
sents, while the reader, even in personating is never 
wholly separated from his own personality and dignity 
as a reader. 

The reader while reading, either impersonatively or 
purely, is limited in bearing to a standing position fac- 
ing the audience. All action in regard to carriage and 
poise is mere suggestion except the actual standing. 
He never walks but may suggest the initial movement 
by a mere step or motion of the foot in an oblique 
forward direction. To suggest a seated position, he 
merely places the weight on the back foot and appears 
relaxed. The suggestion of opposition in speech — or 
two people facing each other in a conversation — is 
indicated by the slight turn of the body to the right or 
left of center (never a wide angle) as each character 
alternately speaks. When the reader gives explanatory 
matter to the audience his position is squarely facing 
them as in direct address, while his eyes pass from 
individual to individual as he talks. When a character 
is supposed to speak, his eyes do not see the audience 
but focus slightly to one side of the center as if look- 
ing at the other character. 

Much could be said about the angles maintained by 
a reader in suggesting the position of several charac- 
ters in a narrative or play, but such matters can best 
be left to the discretion and good taste of a competent 
teacher. It may be sufficient to say that the reader 
should never turn squarely to the left and then 



READING 103 

squarely to the right (presenting a profile view. to the 
audience) while indicating two characters in conversa- 
tion. It is enough to suggest their opposition by a 
slight turn of the head and trunk. Often, if merely 
the head and not the trunk turns, the reader uncon- 
sciously gives to the character a suggestion of deceit 
or indifference, as one who talks over his shoulder. 
To suggest the position of two people in a car seat or 
in a carriage conversing, the head and not the trunk 
will turn to indicate actual talking over the shoulder. 
In this situation the angle, of course, will be wide. 
To suggest one speaking from a reclining position, the 
only indication required is weight on the back leg, 
head raised rather high and turned slightly to one side. 
For the reader in impersonative reading or pure read- 
ing it is never necessary to do more than indicate by 
the slightest bodily suggestion, the position and rela- 
tion of characters in conversation. 
(2.) Sex Limitation in Personating and Reading. 
Obviously the actor must be of the same sex as the 
part he is playing unless he is playing a comedy role 
or is so able to disguise himself in make-up and voice 
that the audience does not know the difference. 

In personating, however, the reader may be of either 
sex in any kind of a personation unless the literal 
action of a supposed male character is such that a lady 
could not accomplish without vulgarity. A male 
reader may personate either sex, but a lady is some- 
times limited in personating a man. For example, 
there are selections representing a drunken man which 
a man may personate w^ithout offending the good 



I04 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

taste of any one, but which if hterally personated by 
a woman would be coarse and undesirable. There is 
rarely any action of the most eccentric woman, how- 
ever, that, if proper at all, could not be given by a 
man impersonator. 

In impersonative reading or pure reading, the 
reader is not limited by sex at all. Since suggestion 
is the fundamental requisite of reading, all that is 
necessary to be suggested can be done by either sex 
without a thought being given to the reader himself. 

It is good to remember that the reader in reading is 
always himself; that the reader in personating is him- 
self in the background but some one else in the fore- 
ground, and that the actor is always some one else. 



CHAPTER VIII 



PERSONATING 



Definition Elaborated. — Personating is the most 
literal and least suggestive form of reading. It means 
first, literal action without the aid of costume, make- 
up, properties, scenery or stage accessories of any 
kind, and second, it means literal characterization in 
voluntary voice changes when necessary. When per- 
sonating the reader may walk about the platform, as- 
suming the gait and movements or the poise of the 
character to be represented; he may complete every 
movement in handling or indicating imagined objects 
mentioned or obviously connected with the selection. 
One definite thing to be remembered about the art of 
personating is that it must never he employed when 
rapid change of characterization is necessary, as in 
conversation among two or more speaking characters. 
Only when one character is assumed without interrup- 
tion through a long speech, whether in soliloquy, im- 
plied dialogue or direct address, is personating 
feasible. 

Type of Selection for Personating. — The general 
type of selection for the art of personating may be 
called, The Personation, which may be recognized in 
the following literary forms: soliloquy, implied dia- 
logue and direct address. It is to be understood, how- 

105 



io6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

ever, that although the selection may be in one of these 
literary forms, it need not be considered as a persona- 
tion unless, according to the author's purpose, literal 
action is primarily essential for adequate presentation. 
Characterization and mood must be secondary. 

The first form of the personation which enables the 
reader to be nearest like the actor is the Personated 
Soliloquy, which indeed differs from the Acting Solil- 
oquy only in the fact that it does not require as essen- 
tial, scenery, properties and stage effects. The reader 
represents a certain person, normal or eccentric, en- 
gaged in some particular action while meditating on 
some subject more or less intimately connected with 
what he is at the moment doing. A splendid example 
of the Personated Soliloquy is recognized in The Irish 
Girl and the Telephone, by Bailey and Schell.* Here 
is represented an Irish servant girl who has never 
seen a telephone. She is discovered talking to herself 
while sweeping or dusting the room. Her meditation 
concerns the telephone which she calls the "little 
box." As she is meditating, suddenly by her action 
and speech, the audience is made to realize that the 
'phone has rung. Then follows her conversation over 
the 'phone and her meditation on the things she hears. 
The reader in examining the selection sees that the 
predominating feature is literal action. He has noted 
that the business does not actually require the scene 
nor the real telephone, broom, chair, table, etc., but 
that the situation does require moving about and ob- 



*Werner's Readings, No. 38. 



READING 107 

jective gesture in handling the imaginary telephone 
receiver in order to give the complete comedy effect. 
If the entertainer is a woman, and she cares to have 
the costume with the stage scenery and all the proper- 
ties, she becomes an actress for the time being and is 
then acting in soliloquy. Careful study of the selec- 
tion will reveal, however, that none of the accessories 
is necessary, so the piece may be presented through 
personating. This particular selection could be given 
through impersonative reading, making the Irish char- 
acterization the primary essential and eliminating lit- 
eral action, but the selection would lose much of the 
effect intended by its author. 

Another example of the Personated Soliloquy is 
In the Pantry, by Mabel Dixon.* The character rep- 
resented is a little boy meditating on the advisability 
of disobeying his mother and eating the mince pie that 
his mother has left temptingly on the pantry shelf. 
After considerable wrestling with his conscience, he 
reaches up, takes down the pie and eats it. The Hteral 
action in standing on tiptoe and walking about to view 
the pie from different angles and the final pantomime 
of reaching for the pie and eating it add so much to the 
situation that the reader decides to personate rather 
than merely to characterize the boy in his child speech 
and suggest the action through impersonative reading. 
It is funny if given as a Character Soliloquy, but it is 
funnier when given as a Personated Soliloquy. 

The second form of the personation is The Mon- 



*Anna Morgan's Selections. A. C. McClurg & Co. 



io8 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

ologiie. It is written in implied dialogue and always 
represents a single character in supposed conversation 
with others while accomplishing literal action neces- 
sary to the piece. Sometimes these monologues are 
misnamed Acting Monologues and are given in cos- 
tume and with properties. Some even go so far as to 
set a complete scene with stage furniture appropriate. 
Such a performance is inconsistent and absurd, for 
if the audience is not stimulated to imagine the scene 
and properties, why should it be required to imagine 
the other persons supposed to be in the conversation? 
This might not be such a serious mistake were it not 
for the fact that such attempts to create so much 
realism result in situations impossible for one enter- 
tainer to present without confusing the audience as 
to the intention of the speaker. For example, let us 
take At the Matinee, by Marjory Benton Cooke.* A 
young, frivolous girl enters the theater and looks 
around for her friend who has arrived earlier. She 
soon sees her friend, and stepping over the knees and 
feet of several people, supposed to be in the same row 
of seats with the friend, she finally seats herself. In 
the implied dialogue that follows, the speaker removes 
her hat and pins it t-o the back of the man who is 
supposed to sit directly in front of her. Now if the 
entertainer should use a real hat and attempt to pin 
it on the imaginary man in front of her, the hat 
would fall to the floor and the audience would lose 
the idea. If, however, the hat removing process is 



^Monologues, by Marjory Benton Cooke. 



READING 109 

done in pantomime with an imaginary hat and pins, 
the audience is uninterrupted in its imagination of the 
articles and unconsciously follows the speaker's move- 
ments throughout, accepting the suggestions without 
question. When the candy boy is supposed to sell 
the young woman the box of chocolates, it becomes 
impossible for an imaginary boy to deliver a real 
candy box without employing legerdemain, so here 
the reader finds it necessary to pantomime the im- 
aginary box. A real box, even if it were possible to 
produce it out of the air, would be in the way and 
become confusing to the audience when other imagi- 
nary articles are suggested. Consistency demands that 
all or none of the properties be imaginary, so in the 
case of the hat, candy-box, opera glasses and money, 
and the supposed patrons of the theater, the audience 
accepts all without question. This selection zvould fail 
utterly if given by any other method than by person- 
ating. Literal action is all important. There is no 
particular eccentric characterization or mood changes 
that are not connected with necessary action, so if 
given through impersonative reading, the selection 
would fail to express the author's purpose. Obviously 
the selection could not be given through acting, for it 
would be impossible to get all the scenery and prop- 
erties necessary without also having an audience of 
real people on the stage and without changing the 
implied dialogue to pure dialogue in substituting the 
other parts. Any attempt to offer the piece through 
acting would be ridiculous, for the subject-matter is 
so unimportant that the expense of staging it would 



no DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

be unwarranted. Personating is the only form of 
presentation for this monologue. 

The third form of the personation is The Eccentric 
Address which represents a comedy orator in direct 
address to a supposed audience, the regular audience 
being the one actually addressed. In this type of the 
personation, the eccentric character burlesques real 
oratory and creates comedy situations by his greatly 
overdone action and gesticulation. He is privileged 
to walk about, or pound an imaginary pulpit, read an 
imaginary Bible or use any literal movement of head, 
hands, arms or legs in order to give a complete 
comedy characterization in overdrawn oratory. This 
type may be presented through all forms of delivery, 
but is best given through personating. When the 
speaker does not choose to employ literal action be- 
yond facial expression in connection with vocal char- 
acterization, he may do so, but since in any burlesque 
oratory the speaker is not limited, we make no special 
classification for it when presented through imper- 
sonative or pure reading. When direct address is 
given seriotisly it can not be considered as belonging 
to the reader's art at all. It belongs to the art of the 
Public Speaker, or Orator. 

An excellent example of the Eccentric Address is 
The Ship of Faith,"^ a colored dialect sermon. The 
old colored preacher is exhorting his hearers to "get 
on boahd de ship ob faith," and his actions should be 
represented as typical of the race. The more literally 



*Found in Clark's Handbook of Best Readings. Scribner's. 



READING III 

he marches back and forth and shakes his head, the 
more realistic will be the impression. The humor of 
the selection is greatly enhanced by characterization 
and the action is burlesque oratory. To put on a 
prince albert coat, wear spectacles and use a real 
pulpit and book would be inconsistent unless the enter- 
tainer also blackened his face and "made up" for the 
part as an actor. 

The Character Series is considered the fourth form 
of the personation and is really the point in the classi- 
fication where personating and impersonative reading 
may be used with equal effect. It is a composition 
written expressly to exploit several eccentric charac- 
ters in comedy addresses or anecdotes. Each character's 
speech is a complete address and is not interrupted 
by conversation. Explanatory matter is introduced 
between each address, by the reader, and each 
successive speaker is assumed in a comedy speech 
independent of the others, so there is opportunity to 
make formal transition which is not possible in a quick 
interchange of speeches such as occur in regular nar- 
ration with descriptive dialogue. The Character 
Series, then, is to be considered merely as a succession 
of eccentric addresses connected by explanatory ma- 
terial into one complete theme. The Debating Society, 
by E. J. Hall,* is a good example of this type. A 
number of eccentric characters are engaged in "de- 
batin' " on the question of "suppressin' th' press," and 
the selection offers opportunity for several types of 



* Found in One Hundred Choice Selections. No. 28. 



112 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

comedy characters to be literally personated. Here 
literal action is about equally important with charac- 
terization, as much of the humor lies in the peculiar 
movements of several of the debaters in speaking. 
The selection, of course, may be given through imper- 
sonative reading as well as through personating. 
It is for this reason that the Character Series is some- 
times called the "common ground" for these two types 
of delivery. 

Vocal Features of Personating.'^ — (i,) Voluntary 
Adaptation of Voice to Characterization. In assum- 
ing the vocal peculiarities of characters, the reader 
must be somewhat naturally endowed with imitative 
ability, for voluntary vocal change requires conscious 
imitation. There are five general ways in v/hich the 
voice may be changed for personation, 
(a.) Conscious Change in the Four Elements: 
Quality, Force, Pitch, Time. Every true teacher 
of public speech is familiar with the four elements of 
vocal expression, and it is assumed that the student 
who is prepared for professional work in the art of 
public reading is already sufficiently acquainted with 
the use of quality, force, pitch and time to make un- 
necessary any further explanation regarding their 
fundamental attributes. It is well, however, to offer 
an explanation of how these elements may be con- 
sciously expressed for the purpose of personating. 

In order to do more than express the mood of 
curious or eccentric comedy characters it is necessary 



*See Diagram C, in the Introduction. 



^''■* 



READING 113 

to make some conscious changes in the voice using 
various combinations of the four elements. If mood 
alone were all that distinguishes abnormal characters 
from normal individuals there would be no need for 
these paragraphs on consciom vocal change. An 
expression of different moods will result in uncon- 
scious changes, for nature does not require us to think 
about the various means of indicating thoughts and 
feelings before expressing them. In imitation of the 
physical as well as the mental difference in people, 
however, a certain kinesthetic power of mental imagery 
is necessary, and a development of this power requires 
diligent observation together with countless attempts 
to transfer (or perhaps translate is the better word) 
our auditory imagery into a form of motor imagery. 
To imitate the voice of the child or an old person 
requires a little attention to quality and pitch in order 
to get the thin breathy note of the child or the slightly 
guttural tone of a querulous old man. By observing 
the difference in quality between the voice of a little 
girl and that of a little boy, a keen imitator may so 
reproduce the tone that an audience will know instinc- 
tively which sex is being represented. In personating 
the voice of a man or a woman, a difference in the 
abruptness of force, the depths of quality and the 
intermingling of breathiness in the vocalization, will 
leave no doubt in the mind of the audience as to which 
sex is being personated. 

Besides the characteristics of age and sex, the 
physical condition of a character results in a peculiar- 
ity of quality, an eccentric turn or mannerism of pitch, 



114 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

or an unusual application of force and time. A per- 
son with a cold in the head, a sore throat, a "cracked" 
or "husky" voice or a cleft palate must be consciously 
imitated. Mere expression of mood will not do. It 
may reflect the mental condition of one who is sick 
or languid, or lazy, but a conscious imitation of the 
tone quality, the time of utterance or the force in its 
different degrees and manner of application will better 
present the physical disability. Vocal peculiarities of 
inarticulate sounds, such as swallowing, hiccoughing, 
sneezing, coughing, clearing of the throat, drawling 
or hesitating are effected through the conscious appli- 
cation of the four elements in various degrees and 
combinations. The expression of some mental condi- 
tions requires more than mere mood indication in an 
attempt at literal characterization. The voice of an 
idiot, of an inebriate, of an insane person or of a 
stupid person will require for complete characteriza- 
tion the imitation of the voice by means of the ele- 
ments in conscious adaptation. Of course, it should 
be understood from the first that all this conscious 
imitation will not be effective if mood and atmosphere 
are not also understood and expressed. Quality, 
force, pitch and time are ever present in all speech 
whether unconsciously or consciously used. They can 
be recognized in connection with all other forms of 
vocal imitation and are inseparable from them, but 
in personating and in impersonative reading, where 
so much literal characterization is required, these 
elements serve a double purpose in the unlimited 
conscious use which may be made of them. 



READING 115 

(b.) Conscious Imitation of Speech Mechanics 
IN Producing Dialects. By the term "dialect" we 
mean the speech of foreigners who are attempting 
American or EngHsh speech. This term does not 
include localisms or provincial peculiarities of speech. 
A dialect is a recently acquired language imperfectly 
articulated, misaccented and mispronounced, and 
highly colored by traces of the native atmosphere and 
habits of speech. A true dialect can not be written — 
it can only be suggested by following as closely as 
possible a spelling which will indicate in a measure the 
variation of a word from its correct English form, 
but the most important feature of a dialect, the pecu- 
liar national atmosphere of a people can not be repre- 
sented in print. The only way to personate a dialect 
is to study everything about the people who use it and 
gradually to absorb the peculiarities of enunciation 
and pronunciation along with the unusual mood of the 
people and the atmosphere of their daily life. It is 
ridiculous for a student to imagine he can personate 
a dialect by merely pronouncing the words as he 
finds them in the book of selections. One who has 
never lived among the Scotch or Welsh or Irish people 
should never hope to reproduce their dialect until he 
has at least had an opportunity to study one who 
speaks the dialect naturally. Most people who at- 
tempt dialect merely give an exhibition of miserably 
pronounced English. No teacher can teach a dialect. 
He may be able to correct little faults in the speech 
mechanics of one who has already studied and ab- 
sorbed the atmosphere of a certain dialect, but he 



ii6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

should never attempt to teach it until the student has 
had first-hand study in the national traits and the 
actual speech of foreigners who have learned to speak 
English. After one has studied the people he Avishes to 
imitate, a great deal of help may be gained from a 
knowledge of speech mechanics and the way different 
nations vary in their combination of English diph- 
thongs, simple vowels and consonants, but it must be 
remembered that these variations are secondary. 

Let us take for example the first person, singular 
pronoun *T" as represented in print for the Irishman's 
pronunciation of it, namely, '"Oi." To pronounce as 
the English diphthong ''oi' does not give the Irish 
dialect at all. As a matter of fact the variation from 
the English pronunciation is very slight and is not 
caused by a change in the initial vowel of the diph- 
thong, but rather by a difference in the use of the 
tongue in articulating the initial broad "a." This 
can not be arrived at mechanically with any degree of 
consistency until the ear of the imitator has carefully 
registered the sound as it has heard frequent conver- 
sations in the dialect and observed the little distinc- 
tions of accent, quality, variations of pitch, and the 
general atmosphere which gives rise to idiomatic ex- 
pressions. Dialect personations should be attempted 
only by those who know the life of the people they 
are imitating. Many excellent imitators are able to 
"get by" with a dialect from mere imitation of vaude- 
ville performers or readers who themselves have 
been able to reproduce the real dialect, but the safest 
way is to make a study of the people to be imitated. 



READING 117 

After having lived in New York for a time, the 
imitative person may acquire a fairly accurate repre- 
sentation of the New York Jew. To live among the 
Pennsylvania Dutch is the only way to acquire their 
dialect. A few of the dialects which it is possible to 
study in America are: the Scotch, the Irish, the 
German, the Dutch, the French, the Italian, the Swede, 
the Chinese, the Japanese, the Russian Jew, the Ger- 
man Jew, the Polish, the French Canadian and the 
American Indian. Of course it is possible to study 
every dialect in the world for a very superficial imita- 
tion of them but most of the dialects not mentioned 
above are so infrequently found in the United States 
that a real atmospheric study of them would be diffi- 
cult. Only those nationalities which are so numerous 
in America that they settle in colonies are capable of 
thorough study. Even settlement study is never as 
satisfactory as the study of people in their own native 
land. Their customs and habits of living together 
and their individual traits of character afford many 
hints to the personator who would reproduce these 
same traits in a broken tongue. Just as one who lives 
in France two or three years will be better able to 
speak and understand the French language than the 
student who learns to speak it by studying a book in 
school, so the reader of dialect can do his best work 
if he studies his people in their native environment, 
(c.) Conscious Imitation of Local and Pro- 
vincial Speech. What has been said about dialects 
applies largely to local or provincial speech. One 
should never depend on the representation in print. 



ii8 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

The study should be at first-hand, although there is 
not so great a distinction in atmosphere as among the 
dialects, since American ideas and emotions are much 
the same everywhere in America, but there are subtler 
variations which the true artist will not disregard. 
Many forms of local or provincial speech are mis- 
named "dialects." The speech of the southerner and 
the negro are not dialects ; they are provincial speech, 
or sectional variations of American speech just as 
American speech in reality is a colonial variation of 
the English speech. The reader of dialect very often 
finds occasion to imitate the speech peculiarities of 
the South, the Southwest, the Middle West, the East 
and of the rural and urban variety of these different 
sections in the United States. The speech of New 
York is different from that of Boston; the speech of 
the southern planter is different from that of the 
northern farmer, and the speech of the western 
rancher has its own peculiarities which differ from 
any of the others. A study of sectional speech reveals 
the fact that the variation is mostly in speech me- 
chanics and in the use of the four elements. Pronun- 
ciation and idiomatic phrases are the principal 
distinguishing marks. For example the Boston repre- 
sentative is very likely to say, 'T have an idear that 
mothah deah will be theah by foah-thehty." The 
New Yorker from Fifth Avenue would say it in about 
the same way except that he would not put the final 
"r" on "idea." The East Side urchin would pronounce 
the last word, "fo-thuety." In "Nawth Cala-ma" we 
should hear, "foh-thutty." In Indiana it would be 



READING 119 

"foer-r thir-rty," and so on. In Indiana alone there 
are six different varieties of speech which may be 
illustrated by the six ways of pronouncing the one 
word "going." They are: "going," "gone," "gow- 
an," "go-in," "gwine" and "gwan." These are called 
"localisms." 

The observant reader as he travels about will orient 
himself to the different customs of the people and 
will instinctively develop an imitation of them. 
Further study of the causes of these variations will 
establish certain marked differences that may be used 
to great advantage in personating. 

For a comparison of provincial speech with dia- 
lects, let us return for a moment to their consideration. 
Side by side with the differences in the use of speech 
mechanics, exists the differences in the use of the ele- 
ments, especially quality and pitch. For example, in 
France the predominating voice quality is slightly 
nasal, while in Germany it is decidedly guttural. The 
difference is due, of course, to the predominating 
sounds of each language which influence the habitual 
placement of tone. Greater differences occur in the 
use of pitch than in quality. For instance, the Irish- 
man habitually asks his direct questions with a down- 
ward inflection, as if declaring them, while the Eng- 
lishman has the habit of giving the upward slide to 
assertions as well as to all questions. The Chinese 
use of pitch is entirely different from the European or 
American use in that the same words may have dif- 
ferent denotation when placed in a different key. 
Consequently, in reproducing a dialect one should be 



120 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

familiar with the native use of the language and 
observe how the transition to a new language will 
affect the resulting dialect. Dialects are, therefore, 
much more difficult to acquire than local or provincial 
speech, and the student should make his effort in 
personating apply to his own national peculiarities 
before taking up the peculiarities of other nations. 
(d.) Conscious Imitation of Speech Defects. 
One of the most popular forms of imitation used for 
personating is the imitation of speech defects, such as 
stuttering, stammering, faulty articulation (including 
the use of "1" for "r" and lisping, the cause of which 
is a misarticulation in the formation of "s"), and the 
speech of the hare-lip, or one who has a cleft palate. 
To imitate speech defect is not so easy as it looks. 
Many readers attempt it and fondly imagine that they 
are succeeding when in reality they are overdoing and 
burlesquing the defect. The mere repetition of an 
initial letter sixteen or twenty times, or the repetition 
of syllables in any word that happens to occur is not 
at all like stuttering. The audience may laugh at the 
effect it produces but soon tires of it and is no longer 
amused. There are several reasons for stuttering and 
when the reader learns the real causes of this form 
of speech defect, he can reproduce it with a natural- 
ness that will not grow tiresome or cause the other 
important feature of presentation to be lost sight of. 

Again as In the reproduction of dialect or provincial 
speech the teacher can be of use only In explaining 
causes and illustrating forms of articulation. The 
student himself must observe closely the accompany- 



READING 121 

ing of actions, manners and customs of those who use 
eccentric forms of speech. Then the teacher, if he 
understands it himself, can give valuable hints and 
suggestions in further perfecting the representation, 
(e.) Song Imitation. If a reader is not musical, it 
is best that he refrain entirely from imitating singing, 
but if he has a good "ear" for music with a proper 
sense of rhythm and time, there are occasions where 
the literal imitations of the singer add to the humor 
or comedy of the situation. A reader should not 
attempt literal singing in the presentation of serious 
matter. In almost every case the voice in song unac- 
companied by a musical instrument has a pecuhar dis- 
quieting effect upon an audience, and instead of the 
serious impression intended it often produces the 
opposite effect. Imitation of song is dependent upon 
fixed quality and pitch variation, and may, of course, 
for comedy purposes include all that has been said 
about dialect and speech defects. 
(2.) Involuntary Change of Voice Expressing the 
Varying Moods. It has already been stated that mood 
changes underlie all presentation, and are a factor 
of expression in every form of characterization. In 
personating, however, just as in acting, mood repre- 
sentation is not sufficient to produce the realistic per- 
formance intended, so literal or voluntary changes are 
added to give the realistic touch. Running through- 
out the speech of the character thus realistically per- 
sonated, are the changing moods which involuntarily 
color the voice and modulate the melody, but which 
never overshadow the peculiar or fixed vocal char- 



122 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

acteristic assumed in the beginning of the charac- 
terization. For instance, in The Ship of Faith, a 
personation of a colored preacher, all the changing 
moods may be expressed while still keeping the pe- 
culiar qualities and provincial speech of the negro. 
These vocal changes due to mood are unconscious and 
are the result of natural laws. When the public 
reader wishes to express love, hate, anger, deceit, 
melancholy, sorrow, joy, etc., his voice unconsciously 
responds with the proper quality, force, pitch and 
time, to give emphasis and variety to his thoughts and 
feelings. The term Public Reader is used to distin- 
guish from the beginner, or the silent reader who has 
not been used to audience conditions and can not yet 
express even moods unconsciously. Let it be said 
again that in all this discussion of personating and 
in the discussion of reading which is to come after- 
ward, the preliminary study of elocution and simple 
reading is presupposed. 

Actional Features of Personating.-^ — (i,) Literal- 
ness in All Action. In speaking of literal action we 
mean all action including all forms of bearing and of 
pantomime. When literal pantomime is mentioned it 
refers merely to literal gesture of the head, hands and 
limbs, and to literal facial expression, but does not 
include bearing. When literal facial expression is 
referred to, it does not include gesture. On the other 
hand literal gesture excludes facial expression. Bear- 
ing is either literal in both poise and carriage, or it 



*See Diagram C, in the Introduction. 



READING 123 

is suggestive. Later we shall find that in impersona- 
tive reading we may use literal facial expression, but 
siiggestii.'e gesture and bearing, while in pure reading 
we are limited to all suggestive action. In personat- 
ing, however, we may use literalness in all action. 
In bearing we pay especial attention to any eccentricity 
of carriage including the gait, or walk of the char- 
acter, the peculiarities of reciprocal movements and 
the oddities in other movements, such as sitting, ris- 
ing, falling, or the nervous movements of one who 
has rickets, Saint Vitus Dance, etc. There are pe- 
culiarities of poise also which must be taken into con- 
sideration for the complete action necessary in per- 
sonating. The standing or sitting posture offers many 
opportunities for personating which a student may 
readily observe and imitate. Here again as in vocal 
reproduction, observation and imitation are the only 
ways to accomplish true characterization. 

In pantomime (action of the head, hands and limbs 
and of facial expression) we have the most frequent 
literal use. In the great mass of material suited to 
the reader, there is very little which actually requires 
complete reproduction of carriage, but in pantomime 
there is constant need of it. The movements of the 
hands, first subjectively in indicating a peculiar mood, 
second, indicatively in pointing out objects and in 
indicating size, distance, measurements, etc., third, 
in peculiarities of movements, such as the trembling 
or nervous hand and the motions due to diseased 
conditions in Saint Vitus Dance, rickets, palsy, im- 
becility, insanity, and drunkenness, and fourth, the 



124 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

handling of imaginery objects in which the hands 
describe the same movements that would be made if 
the real objects were there — all these motions find a 
place in making the action real while leaving the sur- 
roundings to the imagination of the audience. Facial 
expression, of course, must be consistent with the 
other indications of peculiarity whether it be merely 
the unconscious reflexion of mood or the conscious 
assuming of a pecuHarity of feature, such as a protrud- 
ing lip, a closed eye, a wrinkled forehead, a twist to 
the mouth or an extended jaw. There are certain re- 
curring mannerisms — a blinking eye, a moving scalp, 
a wrinkling nose, or nervous movements of the lips 
and the tongue, and there are natural movements in 
biting, chewing and pursing the lips, which are never 
necessary except in personating, where detailed action 
is essential to the humor of the selection. 
(2.) Technique of Action in Personating. The en- 
tire body must be consistent in its movements in 
reflecting the word of the character, which, of course, 
is the greatest factor in any characterization. If the 
face reflects fear, the entire body must become con- 
centric in attitude, and show in every line of position 
the natural bodily response to the emotion. For the 
body to be erect, or at ease while the face mechanically 
distorts in fear, the effect is comic, or at least is not 
realistic enough to be convincing. Since in person- 
ating, realistic action is the primary requisite, it must 
be complete in every detail. 

The most prominent feature of action in personating 
is literal objective gesture. In handling imaginary 



READING 125 

objects, the fingers and palm must be careful to keep 
consistent with the shape of the object suggested. For 
example, let us imagine a character reading a letter 
which on the first page gives encouragement to him, 
but on the back of the page says something that 
plunges him into despair. The action while reading 
the letter is important, so care must be taken to hold 
the imaginary letter as one would hold a real letter 
and not merely spread out the hand flat. The thumb 
and finger of one hand will naturally be in opposition 
at the upper corner of the supposed page. While 
the other hand will be the width of the page distant 
and about the length of the page lower down. The 
eyes of the reader will focus between the hands. 
When the page is turned, the movement of the hand 
should correspond. The student in preparing the 
selection should use a real letter until he becomes 
accustomed to the ''feel" of his movements and then 
he will find it easy to make the audience see in im- 
agination the paper which is not there. 

Whenever literal objective gesture is attempted, 
care must be taken to give the action of replacing the 
objects assumed to be handled before taking up others. 
For instance, let us suppose the reader is personating 
an old woman at a quilting party. She is engaged in 
cutting squares of cloth and sewing them on the patch 
quilt while gossiping with the others supposed to be 
present. From time to time she picks up the im- 
aginary shears, cuts or trims the edge of a square, 
replaces the shears, takes up her needle and sews 
again. The failure to replace the shears might not 



126 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

be noticed by the audience, but it is likely to be, es- 
pecially if the reader in the act of cutting forgets, 
and abruptly starts the sewing process. Perhaps the 
failure to replace a supposed article can be illustrated 
best in the Monologue, "At the Matinee." This 
monologue has no merit except as a piece of comedy 
action and if the action has any merit at all it must 
be in its exactness and detail. In this selection the 
young woman takes off her hat, first removing nu- 
merous hatpins which she holds in her mouth. When 
the hat is off she puts the pins back in the hat and 
fastens it to the seat in front of her. One young 
woman while working on this selection spoke her 
lines at that point in the piece as if the pins were in 
her mouth, but presently forgetting the pins, she 
opened her mouth and laughed heartily after which 
she resumed her speech, mumbling the words as if 
the pins were still in her mouth. Soon without the 
pantomime of removing the pins she began eating the 
imaginary chocolates. Her instructor told her that 
the audience would be concerned lest she had swal- 
lowed the hatpins if she should forget to replace them 
in the hat. As a matter of fact probably nine out of 
every ten would not notice just what was wrong but 
there would be a sort of subconscious impression that 
something was wrong. The greatest harm done, how- 
ever, is to the artist herself who has failed to imagine 
completely the objects with which she has to deal. 
Later in more suggestive work, the student may find 
that her lack of imagining completely the essential 
details in personating will make her careless in her 



READING 127 

choice of details for suggestion. The matter of re- 
placing imaginary objects always seems trivial to the 
novice, but it is the very point on which the success 
or failure of some bits of personating depend. In 
impersonative reading or pure reading, since there is 
never a necessity for more than suggestive objective 
gesture, the replacing of the suggested object is never 
considered. The purpose of literal objective gesture 
is to make the audience see the object indicated by 
the pantomime. If the pantomime is consistent the 
purpose is always realized. 

In the Monologue, the speaker must acquire a con- 
sistent listening attitude while the imagined character 
is supposed to be speaking. Plenty of time must be 
given for these fancied replies, and the facial expres- 
sion and gesture of the reader while listening must be 
in keeping with the impression he is supposed to 
receive. Much of what the imagined speaker is sup- 
posed to say is understood by the audience through 
the pantomime of the reader himself during the listen- 
ing moments. 

The reader in personating differs from the actor in 
his attitudes and positions on the stage only in the 
fact that he rarely turns his back on the audience. The 
actor sharing the attention of the audience with others 
on the stage may frequently turn his back squarely on 
the audience and even talk up stage to another, but 
the reader alone on the stage has at all times the en- 
tire attention of the audience and can not afford to 
lose it for an instant. He therefore will arrange his 
action so that it will never be necessary to turn com- 



128 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

pletely away from them. He may walk diagonally up 
stage, be constantly moving from one side to the other, 
but since he is a reader, not an actor, it behooves him 
to keep facing his audience as much as possible. 

The Use of a Chair and Personal Properties. — 
By personal properties we mean the incidentals which 
are a part of the reader's habitual wearing apparel 
and are never transferred to or from any supposed 
character. A woman's handkerchief, a man's watch 
or eye-glass would be considered in the nature of a 
personal property, whereas a letter, newspaper, book, 
box of chocolates, hat, gloves, muff, dish of ice-cream, 
cup of tea, or playing cards would be classed under 
general or transferable properties. The distinction 
is here made because there are some readers who in- 
sist that the use of "certain" properties are effectual 
and not noticeably inconsistent to any audience, so we 
have classified the "certain" properties as personal 
properties, for it is obviously true that transferable 
properties can not be used consistently. To be abso- 
lutely consistent in the appeal to the imagination of 
the audience, even personal properties should not be 
used. When the audience understands at the begin- 
ning of a monologue that it is to imagine the scene, 
the furniture and the other characters, it is prepared 
to imagine everything connected with the scene ex- 
cept the personality and the action of the one charac- 
ter represented. It does not require the real properties 
to be present and in many cases it would be confused 
if some were produced while others were left 
to the imagination. The mind of an audience once 



READING 129 

accustomed to real objects finds it harder to recog- 
nize imaginary objects during the progress of the same 
selection, for instance if a reader sits at a real table 
with real books or real dishes, and engages in implied 
dialogue with an imaginary companion who in the 
course of the dialogue passes him an imaginary plate 
of toast, the audience in nine cases out of ten will 
fail to grasp the idea. It is inconsistent, to say the 
least, to expect that the audience will not be able to 
imagine the table and the other dishes as well as the 
companion or the plate of toast. It is inconsistent, 
therefore, to employ any transferable properties at all 
and it is better to dispense with the personal proper- 
ties as well, for then there is sure to be no confusion 
on the part of the audience. 

It is easier to induce an audience to imagine some- 
thing that is not before it at all than to make it 
''recreate" a real object and imagine it is something 
else. For instance, if a reader in personating a wo- 
man rubbing clothes over a washboard, goes through 
the pantomime with no articles of assistance what- 
ever, the audience will see the picture far better than 
if the reader used the back of a chair for a washboard 
and a scarf or newspaper in place of the garment to 
be washed. The existence of anything, unless it is 
exactly the object represented, is more confusing to 
the imagination than nothing at all. It is upon this 
fact that the following principle is based: Unless all 
properties and furniture can he just what is repre- 
sented, there should he no properties or furniture em^ 
ployed. 



I30 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

An ordinary chair should not be considered as a 
property or special stage furniture. It is a conve- 
nience. Just as the platform floor is convenient to 
stand on, so is the chair convenient to sit on, but it 
need not be a special chair fitting any particular 
description in the monologue. It is not to be consid- 
ered by the audience at all. In a monologue or 
soliloquy to be personated, a chair conveniently placed 
before the selection is begun enables the reader to 
sit or rise and continue his literal action. Just as no 
one ever thinks of the platform on which the speaker 
stands, so no one ever thinks of an ordinary chair 
on which the reader may care to sit in order to carry 
on action representing a person who is seated. 

Treatment of Personation v^ithin Personating. — 
It very frequently happens that in a monologue the 
speaker is supposed to be reproducing a previous con- 
versation with some one for the benefit of his present 
listener. There is a temptation to leave the original 
character and assume literally the voice and action 
of the persons quoted. The question arises then, how 
far is this secondary personation permissible without 
inconsistency? If the original character is obviously 
of such a temperament that he would naturally imitate 
the manners and voice of those he quotes, the reader 
may go as far as he can zinthouf losing the identity of 
the original character of the monologue. In most 
cases, however, the original character would do just 
as anybody w^ould do in repeating a conversation; he 
would assume the mood and perhaps a suggestion of 
the manner of those he quoted but he would not be 



READING 131 

likely to imitate the voice or the facial expression. In 
the case of a reader personating a professor of elocu- 
tion, he would, of course, assume the characters liter- 
ally, for it would be consistent for a professor of 
elocution to do so. More often than not the original 
character of a monologue is either a normal person 
involved in a good deal of action or else a peculiar 
individual who would not know how to give a literal 
representation of those he quotes. It is safe to say 
that in almost every monologue the original charac- 
ter merely tells what the past conversation has been 
and does not even swerve from his own mood. If 
his mood is purely mental, he will never do more than 
give the thought of the one quoted, but if his mood 
is highly emotional it is likely that he will reflect 
somewhat the mood of the one he quoted. 

In Higher Culture in Dixie the old colored woman 
is telling ''Sis" Mirandy how she cured her daughter 
of atheism, and in quoting her own words and those 
of her daughter she unconsciously uses the mood in 
which the past conversation was carried on, but she 
will not lose her own voice in quoting the words of 
her daughter. Negroes are very emotional, and the 
old lady will live over again in suggested action part 
of the scene, but she never will completely leave her 
own character, nor forget her one listener, "Sis" 
Mirandy. The audience should never lose sight of the 
old lady herself and "Sis" Mirandy, and they should 
see the daughter only in the dim circumstances sug- 
gested by her mother. 

The position of the original speaker in a monologue 



132 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

remains in the attitude of spokesman to his original 
listener. He does not in quoting turn from side to 
side as does the reader in presenting two speaking 
characters. Again he would do as any person in 
real life would do. He would not be likely to employ, 
or even know about, the elocutionary "trick" of the 
side to side movement which suggests two persons 
conversing. 

In quoted conversations the words ''said he," "said 
she," etc., should be repeated frequently in the charac- 
ter of the original speaker so that he will remain iden- 
tified with the character at all times and so that the 
audience may have no chance to confuse him with the 
character he is quoting. 

The Treatment of Vocal Imitation within Per- 
sonating. — In these paragraphs we are using the 
term "vocal imitation" in the sense of mimicry of 
nature sounds or mechanical sounds. It does not 
refer to the imitation of human voice. When we 
speak of literal imitation of a person in voice or action, 
we call it personation but the imitation of things not 
human we shall call merely imitation. 

The question, "What shall we do in personating a 
character who is supposed to imitate cat-calls, the 
bark of a dog, etc.?" may be answered in the same 
way that the question concerning personation within 
personating was answered. If the original character 
is supposed to be an imitator or a clown, he would in 
all probability imitate, but if he is an ordinary char- 
acter, he would not. The situation would be most 
unusual in which a character would literally imitate. 



READING 133 

In Mark Twain's Jun Wolf and the Cats, a rather 
eccentric old man is telling a friend (or a group of 
friends) of a boyhood prank played on Jim Wolf. 
In the course of his talk he mentions the cats "y<^w- 
ow-owling." Now the old man would be likely to 
approach an imitation but he would not be able to 
give an exact one. For the reader to drop the old 
man's character and literally reproduce the cat-call 
would be inconsistent. The important element in the 
selection is the old man himself and what he does in 
telling the tale. It is more humorous to see the old 
man suggesting the cat imitation than it would be to 
see the reader step out of the character and give a 
literal imitation. 

The Use of Literal Song in Personating. — Since 
literalness in voice and action is the primary essential 
of personating, and since singing is distinctly a human 
accomplishment it may be reproduced literally without 
inconsistency in any of the four forms of the persona- 
tion. If the character speaking is telling about 
another person who has sung, he will not sing. He 
will merely repeat the words. But if during the act- 
ing of the original character in a soliloquy or a mono- 
logue, the character himself is supposed to sing, he 
may do so literally if he can sing — if not, he had bet- 
ter content himself with chanting in a monotone. 

In Mammy's Li'l Boy, by H. S. Edwards, since the 
action of holding and rocking the baby and the as- 
sumption of the provincial speech of the negro are 
essential, the reader may croon the "Bye-o, baby boy, 
o-bye" with prefect consistency. If the reader prefers 



134 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

to stand and simply suggest the holding of the baby, 
giving the selection as a character monologue through 
impersonative reading, the singing may be fittingly 
suggested since the selection is not humorous and the 
tune is unimportant to the mood of the piece. There 
are many soliloquies and monologues in which the 
actual singing of the character is important, and when 
this is the case the real tune should be employed. 

Relation of Personating to Impersonative Read- 
ing. — Before leaving the subject of Personating it is 
well to show its relationship to Impersonative Read- 
ing, the next step toward suggestion. While in the 
present chapter we have shown that literal action is 
the primary requisite for personating, and that char- 
acterization and mood were secondary considerations, 
we shall show in the next chapter that literal action 
drops out of consideration and gives place to vocal 
and facial characterization as the primary requisite 
with expression of mood and suggestive action as a 
secondary factor. Impersonative Reading is the inter- 
mediate step, therefore, between Personating and 
Pure Reading. 



CHAPTER IX 

I M PERSON ATIVE READING 

Definition Elaborated. — Impersonative reading is 
that phase of the reader's art which attempts charac- 
terization as literally as possible in voice and facial 
expression, but in all other action gives mere sugges- 
tion. It is not confined to the representation of one 
character as is personating, but may represent many 
in conversation while the reader changes from one 
character to another and back again to narration in 
his own person. It is the "common ground" between 
personating and pure reading, and is the kind of 
delivery applied to a great mass of humorous or 
character readings that seek to portray eccentric or 
comedy types in conversation with one another. It 
affords a means of compromising between entire 
literal presentation and wholly suggestive presenta- 
tion. 

Type of Selection Suitable for Impersonative 
Reading. — The Character Reading is the name given 
to that type of literature calling for eccentric char- 
acterization and is distinguished further by the fact 
that it may represent more than one character in 
conversation. Here, of a necessity, complete literal 
action can not be reproduced because of the limitations 
imposed on the reader requiring the rapid change from 
character to character. These rapid changes do not 

135 



136 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

permit walking about or pantomiming tlie handling 
of objects. There is time only for mere suggestion 
in everything except facial expression and vocal 
change which can be done instantaneously and with- 
out attention being called to the means of transition. 

There are two sub-forms of the Character Reading 
which are just like the first two forms of the Persona- 
tion except that the need for literal action is absent. 
Since literal action is unimportant they are called 
Character Soliloquy and Monologue instead of Per- 
sonated Soliloquy and Monologue, and should be pre- 
sented according to the principles suggested for im- 
personative reading. 

The other two sub-forms of the Character Reading 
are unlike any of the forms of the personation in that 
they represent more than one person in actual conver- 
sation. The Character Play is any piece of dramatic 
literature in pure dialogue form whose chief charac- 
ters are eccentric and when given by a single enter- 
tainer, can neither be acted nor personated, but must 
be rearranged in descriptive dialogue form and pre- 
sented through impersonative reading. Here the 
reader must change instantly from character to char- 
acter and back to bits of description, a limitation 
which makes anything like literal action impossible, 
but which may permit the instantaneous changes in 
facial expression and voice. The same may be said 
of the Character Narrative which differs in form 
from the Character Play only in the fact that it was 
originally in descriptive dialogue form and contains 
longer and more frequent passages of description or 



READING 137 

narration. The technique of delivery for the two 
forms is practically the same except that the converted 
form of the dialogue in the Character Play gives the 
descriptive passages in the present tense, while the 
Character Narrative is written in the past tense, and 
the reader conforms to the tense in his presentation. 

Vocal Features of Impersonative Reading. — 
What has been said concerning the vocal features of 
Personating applies in the same way to Impersonative 
Reading in both voluntary and involuntary changes. 
A word in addition may be said regarding the use of 
the voice in the delivery of descriptive and narrative 
passages which does not apply to personating. The 
voice is the reader's own and changes involuntarily 
with the changing mood and atmosphere of the de- 
scription. Indirect discourse will be colored by the 
mood of the one indirectly quoted and the atmosphere 
of a scene or situation will, in a like manner, influence 
the voice of the reader as he describes it. If the 
description is a mere matter-of-fact statement, the 
reader will simply tell it to the audience almost as in 
direct address, but if the description is emotional, such 
as the description of a horse race or a fight with fire, 
the voice of the reader will involuntarily express the 
emotional mood of the passage and may even reflect 
the mood of the onlookers. This is especially true if 
the emotional importance of the scene is greater than 
the mere sense, or meaning. Further treatment of 
vocal features in description will be taken up under 
the subject of Pure Reading. 

Actional Features of Impersonative Reading. — 



138 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Here in the actional features of Impersonative Read- 
ing we find the greatest difference from Personating. 
Almost all action in impersonative reading is sugges- 
tive rather than literal. The only phase of action 
which is employed literally is facial expression which 
may be changed instantly without calling attention to 
the mode of transition. A fixed feature, such as a 
closed eye for Squeers in Nicholas Nicklehy; a recur- 
ring mannerism, such as the blinking eye of "Blinky" 
Lockwood in The Fortune Hunter; or the feature 
motions of the mouth, jaws and tongue in tasting or 
chewing which once in a while seems necessary to 
bring out the humor of a characterization — these ex- 
pressions may be employed for comedy effect in 
impersonative reading. All other action is either sug- 
gested or entirely eliminated. The hearing of a char- 
acter may be dimly suggested in the standing position, 
but the suggestion of sitting or reclining must be 
through a descriptive phrase rather than by any ini- 
tial motion toward the action. Carriage is eliminated 
from consideration since it is obvious that no walking 
about can be done consistently while so frequently 
changing from one character to another. All the 
peculiarities of gait are to be suggested through de- 
scriptive phrases — not by any attempt at initial move- 
ment. Gesture (head, hand and limb movements not 
concerned with bearing) may be strongly suggestive. 
The initial movement of the hand and arm in the 
act of shaking hands, the suggestion of holding a 
letter or a newspaper, the suggestive movement for 
holding up a wineglass in proposing a toast — all these 



READING 139 

movements aid in picturing a situation but do not 
need to be completely carried out. Let us suppose a 
situation in which a drunkard is in conversation with 
his wife. The descriptive matter indicates that he 
lifts a glass while sneeringly taunting her, and that 
she in reply dashes the glass out of his hand to the 
floor. If literal pantomime were to be carried out, 
the reader in assuming the eccentricity of the drunk- 
ard would hold his fingers literally as if holding the 
glass and would go through the motions of lifting it 
high above his head and then back to his lips. Then 
in rapid change to the character of the woman, the 
reader would have to return the man's gesture and 
assume the literal striking motion of the woman as 
she utters her harsh words. All this would take 
unnecessary time and would call attention to the 
manner of transition from one character to another. 
How much more simple and effective is the suggestion 
when the reader in the character of the man merely 
lifts the hand a little way with the fingers loosely 
apart, not attempting literally to encircle a supposed 
glass, but allowing the audience to create the picture 
independently? As the reader thus speaks the sneer- 
ing line, he may instantly interrupt himself in the 
wife's character and, forgetting the one hand slightly 
raised, will allow it to relax gracefully while the other 
hand raises quickly in the initial motion suggesting 
violence as the wife speaks her line and follows with 
her eyes the falling of the imaginary glass. 

The privilege of descriptive matter to be given by 
the reader himself between lines spoken by characters, 



I40 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

makes possible the suggestion for any kind of action 
or situation with the very slightest movement in ges- 
ture. Even literal facial expression and voluntary 
vocal change is unnecessary except in eccentric or 
comedy roles. 

Stationary Position of the Reader in Impersona- 
tive Reading. — It may be laid down as a steadfast 
rule that all forms of selections which require instan- 
taneous change from character to character or to de- 
scription must he presented from a stationary 
position in the center of the platform front zvhich 
point the reader will not move more than one step 
in any direction. All that is necessary in action can 
be suggested from this stationary position. 

In impersonative reading, therefore, the use of a 
chair is never necessary. The abrupt rising or sitting 
in changing characters would call attention to the 
transition and would make an important feature out 
of what is merely incidental. i\ll action that can be 
described in narration may be suggested either in vivid 
phrase or in gesture, but whenever it is obviously 
incidental and can not be expressed without giving it 
undue importance, it should be left out. Perhaps the 
best way to remind the student of the limit of action 
in impersonative reading is to formulate this prin- 
ciple: READING, zvhether impersonative or pure, 
may he presented zvith the desk and manuscript before 
the reader zvithont loss of suggestion to the audience. 
Of course, he may read from memory if he prefers, 
but he will stand erect, facing the audience in either 
case, and will merely suggest the opposition of his 



READING 141 

characters in conversation by a slight turn of the face 
to the right and left. The scene is pictured by the 
reader out beyond the audience rather than on the 
platform with himself. The entire scene, characters 
and all are conceived by the audience as apart from 
the reader on the platform. In personating, however, 
the scene is imagined as on the platform directly be- 
fore the audience, and the one actual character repre- 
sented moves about in that scene. The imagination 
of the audience centers about him and not apart from 
him for a moment. In personating, obviously a desk 
and manuscript would be in the way and therefore 
the Personation must always be delivered from 
memory. The Character Reading, however, may be 
given from memory or from the page with equal 
power of suggestion to the audience. 

Treatment of Personation within Impersonative 
Reading. — By personation within impersonative 
reading we mean, of course, the attempt at charac- 
terization which an eccentric character would be 
likely to make in quoting the words of another 
speaker in a former conversation. How far would 
he be likely to leave his own personality in order to 
assume the voice and manner of the one he quotes? 
Since in impersonative reading the action of the 
original eccentric character must be suggestive in all 
except facial expression, it is clear that the described 
action of the quoted character will be even more 
slightly suggestive, for his action must not cause the 
audience to forget the original speaker and the present 
tense situation. The facial expression of the original 



142 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

speaker will in most cases merely reflect the mood of 
the person he quotes. The voice of the original char- 
acter should not lose its conscious peculiarity, but may 
reflect the mood of the person quoted, in unconscious 
changes of the elements. A good maxim to follow 
is: Never get out of the original character so far 
that the audience thinks of the one quoted rather than 
the original eccentric character. One way of keeping 
the original character constantly before the audience 
while quoting the lines of a past conversation, is to 
insert frequently the words, "said he," "said she," "I 
said," or "I say." 

Treatment of Vocal Imitation within Impersona- 
tive Reading.' — Rarely do we find occasion for vocal 
imitation with the speech of an eccentric character in 
impersonative reading, but when it does occur, it 
should be treated just as it was suggested for per- 
sonating. Jimmy Butler and the Owl offers an oppor- 
tunity for the Irishman to imitate the owl's "Who-o- 
oo" and it should be done as the Irishman zvould he 
likely to do it, not in literal imitation of an owl's note. 
It sometimes happens, however, that in a humorous 
selection, the description indicates in phonetic com- 
bination certain sounds which the author intended to 
be literally reproduced. When this is the case, literal 
imitation may be employed, but in that case the selec- 
tion can not be frankly classed under a Personation, 
Character Reading or Interpretative Reading. It is 
just a "Stunt," or an "Imitation." Fred Emerson 
Brooks' Barnyard Melodies illustrates this type. The 
same general rule quoted in the previous paragraph 



READING 143 

applies also to imitation within impersonative 
reading. 

The Use of Song in Impersonative Reading. — The 

supposition that the character required to sing is 
humorous or eccentric offers sufficient reason for his 
literally reproducing the tune. If the reader has an 
ear for music and a musical voice, he may carry off a 
humorous bit of singing with excellent effect, but if 
he can not carry a tune, he had better be content with 
repeating the words of the song in a monotone. 

In Arammta's Ankle, by Myrtle Reed, the old 
maiden aunt is supposed to sing to the tune of an 
old hymn certain improvised words calculated to annoy 
her niece, Araminta, who lies with a broken ankle in 
the next room. The young doctor who has forbidden 
the aunt to go into Araminta's room or speak to her, 
appears on the scene in the midst of the old lady's 
song. The quick change of words to the words of the 
hymn when she sees the doctor, affords comedy which 
is best appreciated in the literal reproduction of tune 
in the shrill, quaint voice of the old maid. 

Our Baby at Rudder Grange, by Frank R. Stock- 
ton, offers another opportunity for literal singing 
when the narrator tells of walking the floor and sing- 
ing to the baby improvised words to the tune of 
"Weak and Wounded, Sick and Sore." Since the 
reading is humorous and the tune of special impor- 
tance, a literal reproduction of the tune will add to 
the effect and not seem out of place at all. It should 
be remembered, however, that it is never absolutely 
necessary to sing. The audience will get the idea and 



144 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

much of the humor if the reader suggests the song 
by the use of a "one-pitch" tone. 

The Treatment of First Person Narrative.— 
There are two ways of presenting a narrative written 
in the first person, and the choice should be influenced 
by the author's purpose. First, if the narrator is not 
important as a character in a present tense situation; 
if he may be understood as of no more importance 
than the reader himself in telling a story ; or, in other 
words, if the selection could as well be given in the 
third person, or impersonally, it should be given as 
a Character Narrative, just as if it were written in the 
third person. Second, if the narrator is important 
as an eccentric character or as a normal character in 
a present tense situation, and it can be seen that the 
author intended the narrator to preserve his own per- 
sonality at all times through the story, the selection is 
a Character Monologue or a Reading Monologue and 
any quoting of conversations by the speaking charac- 
ter will remain colored by the personality of the nar- 
rator. The Character Monologue or Reading Mono- 
logue can not be given in the third person because of 
the importance of the present tense situation. 

When the narrator is not important in a present 
tense situation, the reader will omit the little unneces- 
sary expressions, "said he," "said she with a smile," 
etc., as much as possible, just as he would do in a 
third person narrative, but in presenting the selections 
in which the narrator is important in the present 
tense situations, the reader will retain every one of 
those expressions and even supply more than the 



READING 145 

author did if It seems necessary to the keeping of the 
original character. Our Guides, by Mark Twain, is 
an admirable example of first person narrative in 
which the narrator is unimportant as a character. 
The narrative could just as well be given in the third 
person without disregarding the author's purpose in 
the least. The characters of the Doctor and the 
Frenchman may be literally assumed in the voluntary 
voice change and the facial expression, for the pres- 
ence of the words "I" and "we" does not affect the 
situation at all. In Shamus O'Brien, by J. E. Le- 
Faum, where the narrator himself is a character 
(shown by the dialect) in a present tense situation, it 
is obviously the author's purpose to keep him before 
the audience, and the conversation Shamus reports is 
all along colored by his own personality. It is there- 
fore classed as a Character Monologue. 



CHAPTER X 



PURE READING 



Definition Elaborated. — Pure reading is the high- 
est type of suggestive presentation and is employed 
in all that class of literature which requires merely 
the expression of mood in conversation and of atmos- 
phere in descriptions. Here there is no attempt at 
realism. The reader stimulates the imagination of 
his hearers to see the pictures and live the scenes apart 
from the reader himself or the platform on which he 
stands. Unlike personating, which seeks to make the 
picture of one character in imaginary surroundings 
doing bits of action within the limit of the platform, 
pure reading carries the mind of the audience aw^ay 
from the platform, out into the world of life, and 
stimulates the memory and the imagination to create 
introspectively a complete chain of imaginary pictures. 
This art is the most subtle of all the arts of the 
reader in its power of suggestion and requires years 
of study. The term "pure" reading must not be con- 
fused with ordinary reading aloud from the page. 
As used in this book, it means public reading of litera- 
ture for the entertainment and education of the peo- 
ple. Almost any person of average intelligence can 
read a story from a book, but to present a piece of 
literature formally with all the subtlety of suggestion 
146 



READING 147 

in voice and actions through the varying moods of 
human hfe requires years of study first in acting, 
then in personating, later in impersonative reading, 
and at last in pure reading, before the highest develop- 
ment of artistic appreciation will be achieved. 

Type of Selection for Pure Reading. — The Inter" 
pretative Reading comprises all the forms of literary 
composition (except argumentation, and exposition) 
whether soliloquy, implied dialogue, descriptive dia- 
logue, narration, description or lyric composition in 
which neither literal action nor eccentric characteriza- 
tion is of any consequence, but in which the expres- 
sion of mood is all important. When a selection is 
recognized as being important for the sake of its 
moods it may be classified under one of the following 
types according to its style of literary composition: 
The Reading Soliloquy; the Reading Monologue; 
the Reading Play; the Descriptive Reading; the Nar- 
rative Reading; the Declamation; and the Lync Read- 
ing. The first two types are in form exactly like the 
forms used for personating and impersonative read- 
ing, but are distinguished from them by the lack of 
necessity for literal action or eccentric characteriza- 
tion. The Reading Play is like the Character Play 
except that it has no eccentric characters in the chief 
role. The Narrative Reading differs from the 
Character Reading in the same way. The Descrip- 
tive Reading, however, differs from every other type 
in that there are no conversations, and the reader is 
concerned wholly with painting a picture of a scene, 
event, or a person. Here the reader's art is at its 



148 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

best when suggesting the atmosphere of a situation or 
a scene described. The Declamation is an address, 
notable examples of which are, Webster's Reply to 
Hayne, Grattan's Reply to Mr. Corry, and the like. 
The Lyric Reading is known as such because of its 
idealism and its universal appeal in poetic form. It 
is essentially emotional. It seems to crystallize some 
great moment in life that is the common experience of 
many. The mood is always intense and universal 
rather than personal. The Lyric may be in soliloquy, 
implied or expressed dialogue, narrative or descrip- 
tive forms. Tennyson's Break, Break, Break and 
Crossing the Bar and Browning's Meeting at Night 
are good examples of lyric readings. 

Vocal Features of Pure Reading. — In pure read- 
ing the vocal changes are involuntary and are brought 
about solely by the changes of thought and emotion 
representing the mood of the normal characters in 
conversation or the atmosphere of situations, scenes 
and events. There is no attempt at conscious imita- 
tion of quality, pitch, force, or time, in order to repre- 
sent any eccentricity of character, for pure reading 
does not deal with abnormal persons. It may deal 
with humor and the very gayest of moods, but not 
to such a degree that it makes the character peculiar. 
There are no external marks of distinction between 
characters. Nothing but the mood or the descriptive 
passages in the selection will indicate transition of 
one character's speech to that of another. 

A word should be said concerning the assuming of 
moods not assigned specifically to any character in 



REx\DING 149 

the narrative. Descriptive matter when nierel}' ex- 
planatory, should be given in a normal mental mood, 
but Avhen the atmosphere becomes highly emotional, 
the reader if properly in the spirit of the selection 
will feel that atmosphere as the emotional mood of 
some possible witness to the scene. In the Ben Hur 
chariot race, for instance, the description becomes so 
highly emotional that the mere telling of the ''whip 
writhing and hissing about the horses' heads" is not 
sufficient. The reader must express the atmosphere 
of the scene and the intense mood of Ben Hur. He 
accomplishes this by assuming the mood of the crowd 
of onlookers, and his utterances will be as intense as 
if he were representing one of the excited characters 
in the scene. 

In indirect discourse, if the mood is emotional the 
reader will unconsciously color his voice to fit the 
mood thus indirectly quoted, but he will not use cor- 
responding bodily action except In the most subjective 
sense. An intense situation, however, even though 
described in the third person, may call forth bodily as 
well as vocal suggestions of the atmosphere. Ordi- 
nary mental description, such as "said he, lifting his 
hat," or "said she^ as she gave a glance from her 
clever black eyes," do not need intense treatment. In- 
deed, a great many of the "said he" and the ''said she" 
phrases may be omitted altogether by the reader. He 
must take care, however, that all description necessary 
to a mental and emotional understanding of the situa- 
tion should be retained unless such description may be 
expressed through the subjective action of the char- 



150 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

acter or the tone of his voice. For instance, in the 
words " 'Yes/ said Mary, smiling," all except "Yes" 
may be omitted if the reader smiles as he says "Yes." 
On the other hand, in the words " 'Is Papa's little boy 
sorry?' said Mr. Todd as the persistent sunbeam kept 
stabbing the back of his neck. 'All right, Papa will 
stay here in the corner until Robert says he is sorry/ " 
nothing can be omitted, for the bit about the sunbeam 
is necessary to an understanding of the humor of the 
situation. The reader's own judgment if he studies 
his selections properly, will determine what his voice 
may suggest and what it will be necessary to explain 
through description. 

In suggesting the voice of a crowd there is at first 
a bit of conscious attention to quality and vocal 
mechanics, in acquiring the suggestive tone. There 
is no attempt to personate a babel of voices (which 
would be impossible) but the voice slightly above the 
normal pitch, with placement back in the back part of 
the pharynx, S'nd with slightly blurred articulation, 
has been foimd to suggest the voice of a crowd ad- 
mirably. In Josephine Preston Peabody's The Piper 
when Kurtz and the crowd shout at the Piper, the 
reader has an opportunity to stimulate auditory imag- 
ery to hear the shout of fifty or a hundred people 
instead of one. 

Actional Features of Pure Reading. — In pure 
reading all action is suggesfive, and that phase of 
action knovv'n as carriage is not considered at all. 
Even subjective gesture and facial expression is more 
or less suggestive and at no time does it approach the 



READING 151 

literalness of subjective gesture and facial expression 
used in impersonative reading. 

Suggestive action (defined in the appendix) is the 
initial movement which, if carried to completion, v^ill 
become literal action. The mere opening of the hand 
half extended toward the audience is enough to sug- 
gest the hand-shake. No accent or return is neces- 
sary, but immediate transition may be made to 
another gesture. The hand with fingers spread 
slightly and the palm toward the face is sufficient 
suggestion for the act of reading a letter — two hands 
not being at all necessary. In many cases no action 
at all is necessary, for the reader will merely give the 
contents of the letter to the audience impersonally. 
In order to be sure that a given gesture is actually 
suggestive of the thought to be conveyed, the reader 
in practising should begin with literal action and com- 
plete the movements a few times, after which the 
suggestion will gradually appear and increase as less 
and less of the complete motion is permitted. It may 
even be advisable in the case of working out a sug- 
gestion for an objective gesture to handle the object 
several times in the manner that the ultimate gesture 
is to suggest. In The Soul of the Violin, a Narrative 
Reading, which contains a long soliloquy by the old 
violin player, it is necessary faintly to suggest the 
attitude of playing. One who has never held a violin 
or tried to draw the bow properly across the strings 
will be unable to give an effective suggestion of 
playing. His hands will not rest easily in the initial 
position, and the occasional movements will not re- 



152 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

spond to the natural rhythm of the speech. The most 
effective way to accompHsh the suggestion for this 
action is, first, to hold a real violin and get the ''feel" 
of the instrument in the hand. The movement of the 
bow should be tried a few times, and then, laying the 
instrument aside, the student should pantomime the 
action literally. In the final practice, the impulse to 
continue the pantomime will be checked after the ini- 
tial movement, and a series of highly suggestive mo- 
tions will be the unified result. No suggestive action 
can be successfully accomplished until an experience 
in the literal action has been had. 

Another illustration is apt: In giving John Burns 
of Gettysburg the emotive description of old John as 
"he stood there picking the rebels off with his long 
brown rifle and bell-crowned hat," demands a sug- 
gestive attitude on the part of the reader. One who 
has never held a rifle to his shoulder will not easily 
assume the correct suggestive position for his hands 
and arms. To pantomime literally the holding of the 
imaginary rifle would be out of place, but a sugges- 
tion of the pantomime may be helpful, and the best 
method of acquiring the suggestion is to practise the 
two preceding steps, first using a real rifle, next giv- 
ing the literal pantomime, and finally using the initial 
position in the raising of the rifle and halting the ges- 
ture at about the waist line, the left hand in front with 
the palm up and the right hand at the hip, palm in- 
ward and elbow back. If the weight is thrown for- 
ward on the left foot and the neck and head pushed 
forward intensely while the eyes look steadily in one 
direction, the suggestion is perfect. 



READING 153 

In Ben Hur's chariot race the moment of the win- 
ning of the race by Ben Hur is intensely emotional. 
The reader, besides assuming the emotional tone with 
which he utters the words "the whip hissed," etc., will 
unconsciously assume the alert bodily attitude, weight 
forward, one arm elevated to the level of the head, 
the other to the shoulders while the uplifted hand gives 
an occasional movement at the wrist to suggest Ben 
Hur's action or what might be the sympathetic action 
of any one of the witnesses to the race in following 
the movement of the hissing whip. The action, 
as well as the voice, in emotional descriptive pas- 
sages may suggest the atmosphere of excitement 
through the mood of some one supposedly present, 
although the reader may not use the character's 
own words. 

Treatment of Mood Representation within Nor- 
mal Characterization. — When in pure reading it 
becomes necessary for a normal character to quote 
previous conversations, no attempt is ever made at 
complete vocal or facial characterization, and there is 
very little effort made to reproduce the mood of the 
persons quoted. There is an occasional instance where 
a perfectly ordinary character is supposed to try to 
imitate some one in a former conversation in order 
to express the unusual mood of the person quoted. 
Whenever the mood is usual, as in the majority of 
cases, the original speaker in his own mood merely 
tells what was said. In all cases the action will be 
subjective in gesture and facial expression, and sug- 
gestive. In the case of the unusual mood reproduced, 
the imitation will never extend further than a volun- 



154 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

fa7'y change in the elements of voice. Since mood 
representation is all that is important in pure reading, 
the quoted conversations should merely color the mood 
of the person speaking. When Cassius quotes Caesar's 
"Give me to drink, Titinius," he is endeavoring to make 
Brutus feel Caesar's lack of manliness, so he introduces 
a slight imitation of Caesar's whining tone. The 
reader must not step formally into Caesar's character 
with supplicating gesture and anxious facial expres- 
sion, but rather he must keep Cassius' ironical mood 
and attitude as he is talking to Brutus, showing only 
in the voice the suggestion of Caesar's whine. 

Treatment of Vocal Imitation in Pure Reading. — 
There are many occasions in pure reading where it is 
necessary to suggest strongly certain nature sounds 
which are represented for the sake of onomatopoeia. 
Here the voice by a little conscious change in quality, 
pitch or time, may often give an extraordinarily subtle 
suggestion. It is needless to say that a literal imita- 
tion would be out of place in pure reading, but the 
suggestion embodied in the phonetic composition of 
the words themselves adds materially to the connota- 
tion which the author had in mind when he wrote the 
selection. Poe's The Bells and Tennyson's Blozv, 
Bugle, Blow, are both onomatopoeic and were writ- 
ten to suggest the sounds so graphically described. If 
mere thought or explanation of the different kinds of 
bells had been Poe's intention, he would not have 
repeated the word, *'bells" in the obvious rhythm of 
the mood he wished to express. It was his intention 
to suggest the sounds of the different kinds of bells. 



READING 155 

The reading of the Bugle Song does not need a Uteral 
imitation of the bugle call, but the word "blow" will 
be given longer time value than usual, and "dying" 
will in repetition suggest the dying notes if longer 
and longer quantity with correspondingly diminishing 
force be applied to the last syllable. Tennyson, him- 
self, is the authority for this rendition. Some years 
ago he was asked by Mr. Ward, the great English 
scholar and friend of Tennyson, why he always pro- 
longed the last syllable and subdued the force on the 
succeeding repetitions of the word "dying," and 
Tennyson replied that the whole idea ''sounded that 
way to him." It is true that authors are not always 
competent authority on the oral expression of their 
own works, but when we are fortunate enough to 
learn at first-hand an author's purpose of connotation, 
we are accomplishing the ideal of all true reading if 
we carry out that purpose. Tennyson's purpose, ac- 
cording to Mr. Ward, was to suggest to the minds of 
all who hear the Bugle Song read, the vivid audi- 
tory imagery of the dying notes of a bugle call. Of 
course there was a deeper and more significant pur- 
pose in the spiritual suggestion inspired by the notes 
of the bugle, but Tennyson believed the one suggestion 
made more powerful the other. 

It is extremely rare that a normal character is re- 
quired to imitate, but if such is the case, the reader 
should only suggest the imitation in the slightest pos- 
sible way. If the words "bells" and "dying" were 
put into the conversation of a normal character, there 
would be no real justification for suggesting the 



156 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

sounds, because ordinary people are not likely to 
express themselves onomatopoeically in conversation, 
but since these poems are lyrical and hence universal 
in their appeal, the reader may make the appeal more 
widely connotative by bringing out the onomatopoeic 
effect. 

The Suggestion of Song in Pure Reading. — Since 
pure reading is almost wholly suggestive, it follows 
that anything which attempts realism, where sugges- 
tion will do as well, is out of pla^e. Literal singing 
is not advisable in pure reading. Aside from the 
fact that the mood of the song and not the tune is the 
essential thing, an unaccompanied song in the midst 
of a serious reading has a peculiar disquieting effect 
upon an audience. Even if the reader has a good 
voice and is able to pitch it at the right key, the effect 
is not so powerful as if read colorfully with a narrow 
range of speech melody. The mind of the audience is 
almost sure to be drawn away from the thought and 
the feeling in the words, and become concerned with 
the tune or the quality of the singer's voice. The 
reading of the words will be much more impressive 
and at the same time preserve the situation of the 
supposed singer in his surroundings. In Dunbar's 
When Malindy Sings, we have a poem which is more 
important for its mood than for any characterization 
of the speaker, who is telling about Malindy's beautiful 
voice. The speaker here is not even supposed to sing ; 
he is merely repeating the words of the song that 
Malindy sometimes sings, and yet frequently we hear 
readers take Malindy's character and literally sing. 



READING 157 

The mood of Malindy's admirer is all that is necessary 
for expression. Even the dialect is not necessary. 

In the Burgundian defiance scene from If I Were 
King, by J. H. McCarthy, Lady Katherine is supposed 
to sing. Here the reader actually assumes the mood 
of 'Katharine while she sings, but he should not at- 
tempt the tune, for if he does the audience is sure to 
think more of the voice quality or the melody than the 
meaning of the song or its place in the story. In 
comedy readings, especially those frankly eccentric, 
the introduction of a tune often adds to the comedy, 
but in serious selections the reader will be more truly 
artistic if he is able to suggest to the imagination of 
his audience the beautiful song and the voice, apart 
from himself. 

Many readers have a mania for ''reciting to music,'' 
and are never willing to appear on a public program 
"without an accompanist at the piano to assist in 
"making effective" Aiix Italiens or An Old Sweet- 
heart of Mine by the synchronous rendering of Hearts 
and Floivers or Cavalleria Rusticana. From the 
standpoint of an "act" in vaudeville, it may be con- 
sidered effective, but as an artistic presentation by a 
reader, it is not to be thought of. If the piece is effec- 
tive when accompanied by music, it is the musician 
who has produced the effect — not the reader. The 
music has a highly emotional effect, but is vague, and 
in almost every case so completely occupies the mind 
of the audience that it can not follow intelligently the 
thought of the selection. How many people who sing 
our church hymns know the meaning of what they 



158 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

are singing? How many are there who get more 
than a general impression of the meaning of any song 
that they hear sung? The melody subtly takes the 
place of the meaning of the words and the audience 
is none the wiser. This can be easily demonstrated if 
the teacher will ask one of his best students to read 
at sight a familiar hymn. Nine out of ten students 
will find that the memory of the tune so dominates 
the reading that the sense is obscured. 

The reader's art should be enough to suggest the 
situation and the sentiment of a selection without the 
aid of "stage effects" in the form of a musical accom- 
paniment. When these effects are employed, the true 
impression is often lost altogether. The audience 
weeps rather indefinitely and murmurs, "Wasn't that 
beautiful?" while all the real beauty of the lines was 
swallowed up in a hazy conception of melody — sad 
melody which conveyed no meaning. Little humor- 
ous songs, written to be sung, may be read to their 
own accompaniment, but they should not be classed 
as real material for the reader's art. The point is 
that poems, written apart from any conception of 
music, are best interpreted without it. A GOOD 
reader does not NEED an accompanist to make any- 
thing he reads effective. 

First and Third Person Narrative. — Since the 
reader in pure reading is concerned with no charac- 
terization of an eccentric or abnormal nature, and since 
mood alone is the predominating factor, narrative 
(except narration within a soliloquy, implied dia- 



READING 159 

logue, or direct address composition) written in the 
first person will receive the same treatment as that 
written in the third person. 

Most of Mark Twain's narratives are written in 
the first person. They are not to be considered as 
Monologues or Eccentric Addresses, for the narrator 
is not in any present tense situation. When conversa- 
tions are quoted, they may be given as the original 
conversations without regard to the person of the 
narrator at all. The rule that "whenever the narration 
could as well have been written in the third person, 
it may be given without regard to the person of the 
narrator" applies in pure reading as it does in imper- 
sonative reading. In A Critical Situation, Mr. Clem- 
ens narrates an incident in which he and his friend, 
Harris, became involved. He quotes Harris, the 
young woman, her son and himself all in conversa- 
tion. It is related in the past tense, and we are not 
concerned with the situation of the narrator at the 
time of his telling the tale. We are interested only 
in the events and conversations of the story. It 
could as well have been written in the third person, 
using the words, "As Harris and Clemens were seated," 
etc., instead of "As Harris and I were seated," thus 
making the narrative impersonal. In delivery, there- 
fore, since the audience is not interested in the nar- 
rator as an important person in a present tense scene, 
the reader may use the first person just as it is written, 
but still feel free to assume the moods of the young 
woman, the boy, Harris and "I" without making them 



i6o DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

secondary or reflected in the mood of the narrator. 
In fact the narrator becomes simply the reader and 
for the moment makes the story his own. 

In Browning's My Last Duchess, we have a differ- 
ent situation. Here the audience is concerned with 
the present tense situation and in the narrator as one 
immediately concerned in the scene. The selection is 
a Reading Monologue, not a Narrative Reading in 
the first person. The person speaking is the duke at 
all times, and the audience is interested in the duke 
as he explains to the messenger the significance of 
the lady's smile in the painting of the duchess. When 
the duke says, "Perhaps Era Pandolf chanced to say, 
*My lady's mantle,' etc.," he merely quotes the words of 
the artist; he is not free to assume formally the 
artist's mood. The audience sees the duke and the 
messenger and the painting on the wall. It does not 
picture Era Pandolf in the scene. The selection could 
not as well have been written in the third person for 
here the mood of the speaker telling a tale to a sup- 
posed listener is more important than the incidents 
of the tale itself. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE VARIED TREATMENT OF TYPES 

Selections for Either Impersonative or Pure Read- 
ing. — In classifying selections under their proper 
divisions according to the type of presentation re- 
quired, it is natural that we shall find some kinds 
which apparently may be presented as effectively 
through one form as another. These are selections in 
which it seems doubtful whether the author's pur- 
pose was to exploit literal action, or characterization, 
or mood alone. Rarely is there any doubt concerning 
the purpose for literal action, for the author usually 
suggests parenthetically the action intended, so we 
may safely eliminate personating from this problem 
and consider only how to determine whether these 
doubtful selections shall be given through impersona- 
tive reading or pure reading. Of course, it is under- 
stood that when the author's purpose is perfectly 
clear we shall not hesitate to classify according to 
that purpose, but occasionally there are other elements 
which may govern the choice of delivery, especially in 
that large class of narrative literature which was not 
originally intended for public reading and in which 
the need for characterization rather than mood ex- 
pression was not particularly considered at the time 
of writing. When, therefore, the author's purpose is 

i6i 



i62 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

not clear, the occasion, the audience conditions or the 
reade/s own mood at the time of the reading may 
determine his choice of presentation. Let us imagine, 
for example, an informal occasion ; the audience a 
group of working men and women from the factories 
and mines ; and the reader himself in a jovial mood 
arising from the informality of the occasion. The 
selection to be given is, let us say, Old Chiims, by 
Alice Carey. Now in this selection either comedy 
characterization or mere expression of the old man's 
mood will be effective, but the tired factory men and 
women, unused to literary efforts, and loving informal 
rather than formal occasions, will undoubtedly enjoy 
more the comedy characterization through impersona- 
tive reading. If the same reading were to be offered 
in Boston at the University Club, the wise reader 
would choose pure reading as his method of presenta- 
tion. The selection would be classified normally as a 
Character Monologue, but the audience condition 
might demand that it be elevated to the Reading 
Monologue class when given before the University 
Club. 

Selections Unmistakable in Classification. — There 
are certain selections which must be given but 
one presentation because any other way would defeat 
their purpose. Here the audience conditions can not 
be taken into consideration as to what delivery they 
may demand. If the audience is such that it would 
not care for simple personations, the wise reader will 
omit them rather than attempt giving them through 
pure reading. If, on the other hand, the audience 



READING 163 

is too uninformed to understand Browning's Blot on the 
Scutcheon, it is better not to give it than to burlesque 
it through impersonative reading. In most cases, 
however, unless the selection is too difficult from a 
literary standpoint, it may be introduced in a varied 
program not overbalanced by too much classic ma- 
terial, and the pure reading will be appreciated by 
way of contrast. 

If Marjory Benton Cooke's At the Matinee is to be 
given at all, it must be personated. No other presenta- 
tion is adequate. It was written for literal action 
and without it the piece would be a failure. If the 
Literary Club before which the reader is to entertain 
is so conservative that it considers any kind of person- 
ating undignified, then At the Matinee should not be 
offered at the Literary Club. 

The same thing may be said of impersonative read- 
ing. Fin de Siecle should either be read impersona- 
tively, representing the eccentric dude or it should 
not be read at all. This type, however, will often be 
acceptable where the piece requiring literal action will 
not. Dickens' Christmas Carol requires eccentric 
characterization, and loses half its charm if read by 
merely expressing the moods. Dickens, of all English 
novelists, was a character delineator and his purpose 
was to picture eccentric types. He often read publicly 
and it is known that he presented the Christmas Carol 
through impersonative reading. 

Longfellow's King Robert of Sicily should be 
given only through pure reading. There are no ec- 
centric characters. The whole theme is dependent 



i64 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

on moods, and to impersonate any of the characters 
would sacrifice too much of the thought and feeUng 
in the situation. Some readers are tempted to make 
the old sexton eccentric, but careful analysis will 
show that he is an unimportant character and should 
not be made at all conspicuous. Impersonative treat- 
ment would make him so, therefore, the line ''Who 
is there?" should be spoken merely in the mood of 
fear, with no attempt at producing a cracked or 
trembling voice, or drawing in the lips to picture a 
toothless old man. The audience is not concerned with 
him except as he opens the door for King Robert, 
the chief person in the poem. 

My Last Duchess must be given through pure 
reading. The duke is not eccentric. He is merely a 
jealous man, and his mood dominates the whole read- 
ing. To call attention to any external eccentricity of 
character, or to make the duke walk about and "put 
aside the curtain" literally would take the mind of 
the audience away from the all important conception 
of his mood. 

Selections Impossible to Classify as Readings. — 
(i.) The Burlesque. There are certain selections 
which may belong to the regular classification, but 
when frankly overdone and overacted become the 
Burlesque. Any selection is capable of being bur- 
lesqued but there are a great many which can not be 
so misused without showing gross bad taste on the 
part of the performer. Some selections are written 
purposely to be burlesque; for instance, F. Anstey's 
version of Burglar Bill wherein a young elocutionist 



READING 165 

is being taught to "render" the old poem by that 
name. All the laws of elocution are purposely vio- 
lated in a frank attempt to ridicule the stage struck 
elocutionist. Here the reader is free to do as he 
likes, for he is supposed to make the situation as 
ridiculous as possible. 

(2.) The Inconsistent Composition. Many selections, 
written for public reading by young authors who are 
ignorant of the principles of public presentation, are 
incapable of consistent delivery, for they are them- 
selves confusing. There are a few so called "Acting" 
Monologues in which the author directs the reader to 
have a suit-case, a scarf, a telephone, a baby and a 
whole trunk full of stage properties in order to give 
a ten-minute selection which could be given just as 
well without the properties. The true reader, if he 
gives such a selection at all, will rearrange it to be 
consistent with the actual necessities of the case. 
Our Folks, by Ethel Lynn, is an example of an incon- 
sistent composition form. It starts out in implied 
dialogue and continues until about half-way when 
suddenly the character whose replies have been as- 
sumed begins to talk. Then later the reader becomes 
himself long enough to give the explanatory line 
"Only the old camp raven croaks." , The inconsist- 
ency of this selection is not serious for the theme is 
one that is not dependent upon characterization or 
eccentricity. The only weakness lies in the fact that 
the audience may be confused when the new charac- 
ter speaks, for they are introduced to the monologue 
form and naturally expect it to continue. Our Folks 



i66 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

is neither a complete Reading Monologue nor a Nar- 
rative Reading, so it is not possible to classify it. 
(3.) Stunts, or Imitatioiis. Selections which frankly 
exploit nature sounds and imitations may rightly be 
called "stunts." They should not be called readings. 
Fred Emerson Brooks' Barnyard Melodies was writ- 
ten to give opportunity for a versatile imitator to imi- 
tate the creatures of the farm, and in the hands of a 
skilled (not necessarily artistic) entertainer, the se- 
lection is very pleasing. 

(4.) Ventriloquism. Ventriloquism is another enter- 
taining stunt popular in vaudeville, but not at all 
advisable to incorporate in a reading. It involves too 
much mechanical effort to allow its user the freedom 
of real suggestion. Ventriloquism is to the ear what 
legerdemain is to the eye — deceit. The ventriloquist 
by calling attention to a certain part of the platform, 
behind, outside the wings or at the side, induces the 
audience to imagine the voice to come from whatever 
direction has been indicated. The audience is con- 
scious of the trick and is occupied in wondering how 
it is done rather than in thinking about what is said. 
Ventriloquism is a matter of skill, not of art, and 
consists in speaking back in the throat at various 
pitches and degrees of force to correspond with the 
effect which various distances in speech have upon the 
ear. This mechanical accomplishment, assisted by 
judgment and tact in persuading the audience to 
listen for sound coming from different directions and 
distances, is the whole secret of ventriloquism. Cor- 
respondingly, the secret of legerdemain lies in the 



READING 167 

ability to draw the visual attention to any given point 
while skilfully palming articles made to appear 
and disappear. The inadvisability of using ventrilo- 
quism in reading is illustrated in the case of the young 
woman who read Romeo and Juliet. When giving 
the call of the old nurse, supposedly out of sight in 
Juliet's chamber, the reader placed her voice in the 
back of her throat and called "J^het," trying at the 
same moment to keep the facial expression of Juliet 
beatific. The strain on her throat proved too much 
for her facial control, and Juliet at that moment 
looked more like a certain famous motion picture star 
when registering the surprise caused by an unex- 
pected blow on the head. If the reader had been a 
skilful ventriloquist, she might have avoided the 
blank expression, but in any event she could not have 
avoided the abrupt change of attention on the part 
of the audience. 

The use of "sleight of hand" in a reading is illus- 
trated by the work of a prominent reader who intro- 
duces a large silk handkerchief in the conversation 
between Othello and lago. It represents the handker- 
chief that Othello has given to Desdemona and which 
lago now shows to Othello. At the moment when 
lago gives back the handkerchief to Othello, the 
reader in using the real handkerchief is obliged to 
transfer it from himself to himself and then get it 
out of sight when lago speaks again. To do this the 
reader becomes "magician" and makes several quick 
moves which causes the audience to wonder "how 
that handkerchief disappeared," a thought which 



i68 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

should never occur to a reader's audience. In the 
first place no handkerchief is necessary. The reader 
does not even need to suggest the action for the lines 
themselves are enough. In the second place, the 
"sleight of hand" movements take the attention of the 
audience entirely away from the scene. 

In a comedy "stunt" like Simonson's Bahy, in which 
the principal entertaining feature is the imitation of 
the crying baby held in the arms of an irate father, 
the ventriloquism adds comedy which does not injure 
the purpose of the selection, for the purpose is frankly 
ridiculous. 

When done frankly for the amusement and curiosity 
of an audience, ventriloquism is permissible, but intro- 
duced in presenting a piece of literature worthy to be 
accepted for its literary value, it becomes another one 
of those little accidentals which not only take up time 
but turn the attention of the audience from the im- 
portant things. Legerdemain makes a splendid 
novelty for entertainment, but when introduced to get 
rid of handkerchiefs, watches, or other unnecessary 
things often brought into a reading, it defeats the real 
purpose of the reader's art. 



PART THREE 
Method of Study 



CHAPTER XII 



GENERAL DISCUSSION 



Introductory Statement. — Teachers of English 
and the practical forms of Public Speaking are some- 
times inclined to minimize the importance of dramatic 
work and public reading. Many, indeed, ridicule the 
teaching of acting as a subject unworthy of receiving 
college credit. They do not realize that genuine 
dramatic culture is in reality as essential for ultimate 
success in public reading as the study of mathematics 
is necessary for success in engineering; that success 
in practical public speaking depends upon a knowl- 
edge of people ; and that the best knowledge of people 
can come only through a study of moods, disposi- 
tions, and the various means of expressing thought 
and feeling through voice and action. It is difficult 
to make the young teacher of public speaking see that 
something more than intellect is necessary in reading 
aloud a piece of literature so that it will awaken the 
imagination of an audience to a full conception of its 
value. He is surprised that some of his brightest 
students can fail so utterly in presenting publicly 
literature that he knows they thoroughly understand. 
They have interpreted the meaning exactly and yet 
the audience was not moved. In his college course in 
''Methods," the young teacher had been tatight to see 

171 



172 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

that his students "get the thought, hold the thought^ 
and give the thought," but when these same students 
read for pubHc entertainment, someway he finds that 
getting, giving and holding the thought is not enough. 
This is the very point. The THOUGHT is not 
enough! It is not even the first essential in preparing 
the student for adequate puhlie reading.* Thought is 
not the beginning of wisdom; it is the result of wis- 
dom. It is the constantly growing result of years of 
sensory experience and expanding emotional impres- 
sions ; it is not the foundation of these experiences. 

The purpose of the following chapters is to show 
that the highest type of suggestive and imaginative 
presentation, namely, pure reading, can be attained 
only through the natural and logical development of 
the student, first, in acting; second, in personating; 
third, in impersonative reading ; and last, in pure read- 
ing. This logical development corresponds to the 
natural development of human expression through 
physical, emotional and finally intellectual activity. 

In taking up this plan of study, we are assuming 
that the student is at least fifteen years of age and 
has had the regular physical and mental development 
corresponding to his years; that he has already 
reached the reasoning period and can "get the thought, 
hold the thought, and give the thought" of the printed 



*This statement does not, of course, apply to the student 
of common reading from the page. This chapter is dealing 
solely with the professional student of public reading who 
has already passed the stage of intelligent reading from the 
page, and is at the point of beginning his preparation for a 
public career. 



STUDY 173 

page; and that this development, of course, has been 
without conscious thought of the process on the part 
of the student. In order to develop consciously in the 
art of suggestion, the student must consciously go 
back to the beginnings of his experiences and re-live 
them — this time governed by conscious reasoning 
while registering their mental imagery. It is easier 
to teach a child to act than to teach a grown person, 
but it is impossible to teach a child to understand the 
art of suggestion. People marvel at the naturalness 
of the acting done by little children in the movies and 
on the stage and wonder how it was possible to teach 
them. They think, of course, that these children are 
prodigies. In reality they are just normal, healthy 
children giving expression to a natural instinct, 
namely to imitate "grown-ups." They have not 
reached the self-conscious age where the intellect 
suppresses the instinct because others are watching. 
If a child is allowed to increase his motor imagery 
and expand his power of imitation, he may pass the 
stage of self-consciousness without serious loss, but 
often the parents are so proud of their offspring's 
"talent" that they keep urging him to perform until 
he becomes conscious of his effort and either begins 
to overdo or else gets self-conscious and suppresses 
his instincts. Later, when he enters the public school, 
he begins the systematic mental development which 
overtops his acting instincts so that by the time he 
reaches high school, they are completely subjected 
and often forgotten. 

If in high school the student is having the proper 



174 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

training in common reading, he is learning to under- 
stand the thought of the printed page, to hold the 
thought in mind, and to express the thought orally 
to the class. He is also learning to express emotion 
vocally, perhaps, but he does not have training in 
bodily expression, or action. 

We shall first review the natural order of human 
development in unconscious expression from birth to 
adolescence, and then show how the cultivation of 
conscious expression follows the same natural order 
in progressing from realistic imitation to the fine art 
of suggestion. 

The Development of Human Expression. — At 
birth the child is a mere bundle of physical impulses 
and desires. There is no thought until it is evolved 
from physical activity and continued response to 
sensations. As Mark Twain says, ''When baby smiles 
in her sleep, she is not dreaming of angels — it is only 
wind on the stomach." According to Messrs. Fulton 
and Trueblood in Practical Elocution the first mental 
development of the child is merely sentient, or the un- 
conscious recording of impressions from the physical 
senses. The first emotional development is sensitive- 
ness, and the child cries but is not conscious of its 
cry. Then follows a balance of mental and emotional 
development : On the emotional side the child be- 
comes in successive stages, affectional-passional, self- 
preservative, social, moral and finally spiritual ; men- 
tally he becomes instinctive, perceptive, memorative, 
imaginative, and at last a reasoning being. It is not 
until he has reached the reasoning stage that he can 



STUDY 175 

be said to possess thought. Until some time after 
reason appears all action and vocal utterance are in- 
stinctive or imitative in response to mental imagery, 
and development up to this point is unconscious. 
When reason manifests itself, it gradually becomes a 
basis for self-culture, or conscious development ; it 
begins to record consciously physical and emotional 
experiences. As soon as the mind is able to take con- 
scious thought of expression, it should be allowed to 
follow from the beginning the laws of development 
and thus make conscious expression natural. 

The first attention should be given to the body in 
physical culture and voice training. If the early 
grammar school training in common reading has been 
neglected (and in most cases, it has) the student 
should next be given a thorough course wherein the 
principles of grouping, group sequence, group mo- 
tive, central idea, denotation and connotation are put 
in practice. At the end of this course, the student is 
ready to begin his intensive training for the stage, or 
the platform, or for practical public speaking in legal, 
political or business life. A good course in original 
speech making should be offered parallel to dramatic 
work in order that the student may acquire a freedom 
and confidence in his own power of spontaneous ex- 
pression. So many actors and public readers are 
slaves to memorized lines and are utterly lost before 
an audience if the memory fails. Training in extem- 
pore and impromptu speech makes the speaker inde- 
pendent, not only in cases where the memory fails 
but in conversation and on occasions when sponta- 
neous speech is called for. 



176 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

In all the subsequent discussion, it is assumed that 
all preliminary work has been done and the student is 
ready for his professional training. 

The Development of the Art of Pure Reading.— 
Just as the child develops from a physical being 
through regular stages to a reasoning individual, so 
the beginner in conscious expression develops from 
literal acting (physical expression) to suggestion 
(imaginative thought and emotion plus reason) in 
pure reading. As there can be no thought before 
there has been bodily sensations and emotions, so 
there can be no suggestion until there has been an 
experience, directly or indirectly, of the thing to be 
suggested. It is upon this principle that the student 
is to build his power of suggesting scenes, events, 
moods and actions to his audiences. 

Acting is considered the first step in this develop- 
ment because it requires imitation of complete move- 
ments and realistic representation of essential things. 
It is the easiest and most natural form of public ex- 
pression and it makes use of the same instincts that 
govern the early acts of childhood. The student 
handles actual articles of furniture and real objects, 
and he converses with real people just as in life. 
Being with others on the stage, he is less conscious of 
himself for he realizes that the attention of the 
audience is not centered wholly upon him. He acts 
as he has seen others act under similar circumstances 
or he imitates the director. In any event his work 
is mostly imitative. He is as a child. He is dressed 
up and plays he is some one else doing something he 



STUDY 177 

has seen some one else do. He is unlike a child in 
that his reason helps him store up the muscular and 
vocal impressions for use in subsequent conscious ex- 
pression. His complete movements and bodily ges- 
tures give him the experiences which his imagery and 
reason will later translate into suggestive movements 
and gestures. 

Personating is the second step toward the purely 
suggestive art for it introduces one element of imag- 
ination through suggestion and correspondingly elim- 
inates the realistic element of enznronment, or cos- 
tume, stage furniture, scenery, etc. Having become 
accustomed to the real surroundings and the handling 
of real objects while in dialogue, the student finds it 
easy, in personating, to imagine the surroundings and 
to pantomime the handling of objects so that the au- 
dience may easily imagine their presence. The action 
is still complete, (or literal, as we term it) but it is 
in relation to imaginary instead of to real objects. 
The student has advanced a step toward the art of 
suggestion but his work is still largely realistic. 

When the student has advanced to Impersonative 
Reading, he has taken a long step toward suggestion 
which leaves realism far in the background. Not 
only is environment eliminated, but literal action is 
abandoned and the audience imagines the scene en- 
tirely apart from the reader himself. The only real- 
istic effect retained at all is the vocal and facial char- 
acterization of eccentric or comedy characters. All 
other action has become suggestive. The only excuse 
for keeping literalness in voice and facial expression 



178 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

lies in the fact that broad comedy and eccentricity 
are much more difficult to imagine than ordinary 
human moods, and an audience deprived of this realis- 
tic appeal would lose half the conception of the eccen- 
tricities. Human characteristics that are eccentric 
are, of course, comparatively infrequent and the aver- 
age audience is not intimately acquainted with them. 
When reproduced literally in voice and feature, the 
eccentricity is at once understood and the imagina- 
tion of the audience left free to accept the larger sug- 
gestions of environment and action. 

In Pure Reading the student reaches his highest 
pinnacle of artistic achievement. Having accustomed 
his motor imagery to respond in literal imitation of 
complete movements, and his auditory memory to re- 
spond in imitation of different vocal characteristics, 
he is now ready to depend upon an acquired instinct 
to suggest action and to respond in involuntary vocal 
change to the changing moods. The experience in 
complete action and literal characterization in acting 
and personating has accustomed the student to the 
feel of different points of view. His motor memory 
instantly recalls the sensation of the former complete 
movements and he is now better able to choose gen- 
eral essentials from the mass of details for suggestive 
presentation than if he had attempted suggestion 
before having the literal experiences. 

The Law of Suggestive Action. — The suggestion 
of a movement may be made in either of two ways : 
by halting the motion midway between the initial im- 
pulse and the accent of the completed movement, or 



STUDY 179 

by making the accent upon the initial motion itself. 
In long, stately, sweeping gestures, the suggestion 
would require the accent to come a little later than 
the initial motion, while in ordinary gestures, the 
mere accenting of the initial impulse will be enough. 
Sometimes, for example, the slightest lifting of the 
hand and the sudden spreading of the fingers will 
suggest the complete action of leaping or running, as 
in King Robert of Sicily when the old sexton had 
opened the great church door, and 

... "a man rushed by him at a single stride 
Haggard, half naked, without hat or cloak 
Who, neither turned or looked at him or spoke, 
But leaped into the blackness of the night 
And vanished hke a specter from his sight" 

the sympathetic reader will follow with bodily attitude 
and suggestive gesture the rushing king and as he 
says "leaped," his fingers will unconsciously spread 
as the accent becomes necessary. It will be seen that 
such suggestive motions are impossible to work out 
except through actual conscious experience in the 
complete movements. One who has not thus developed 
his kinesthetic imagery can never hope to give reliable 
suggestion to his work. There can, of course, be 
first-hand imitation of an instructor in suggestive 
gesture, but to an observing eye such gestures always 
lack significance and are either over graceful and 
''studied," or are awkward and inadequate. When 
motor imagery is awakened and the memory of a 
muscular impulse is aroused, the reader has for an 



i8o DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

instant the intention of reproducing the complete 
movement. As the intention is formed the gesture 
begins, but the will halts it and allows the voice and 
the descriptive material to complete the movement 
solely in the imagination of the hearers. The develop- 
ment of more imagery not only makes possible imita- 
tive action of the body as a w^hole, but assisted by a 
corresponding development of auditory imagery, 
makes possible vocal imitation. Hearing a sound the 
imitator translates into motor imagery of the vocal 
chords and of the muscles controlling the various res- 
onant chambers, an adjustment which reproduces the 
sound. Suggestive action, therefore, depends upon a 
thorough understanding and practice of literal action. 
The Law of Vocal Changes. — Involuntary, or un- 
conscious vocal change comes from the natural ex- 
pression of moods in daily life and form the 
unconscious imitation in childhood of different 
sounds. Later, as soon as the student has learned to 
overcome shyness and self-consciousness before an 
audience, he will publicly express moods in vocal 
change as unconsciously as in childhood. No atten- 
tion to the mechanics of these changes is necessary 
until after the student has had considerable experience 
in the involuntary changes of voice. Voluntary 
changes grow out of imitation and the knowledge of 
speech mechanics. When both auditory and motor 
imagery are well developed, imitation of sounds is 
comparatively easy. In acting the student has de- 
veloped his motor imagery to such a degree that he 
finds it easy to assume the gait, gesture and facial 



STUDY i8i 

expression of the character he represents. Gradually 
he will grow so used to assuming the character's 
action that it becomes almost a second nature for him 
to acquire the peculiar tone quality of age or of any 
eccentric character. A knowledge of speech mechanics 
will aid in imitating the dialect, provincial speech, 
speech defects and other peculiarities. The best time 
for practice in voluntary vocal change is in imper- 
sonative reading where eccentric characterization is 
the primary essential. Here the student has oppor- 
tunity for conscious imitation of vocal peculiarities. 
Underlying all voluntary changes are always the in- 
voluntary changes due to shifting moods and varying 
motives of thought, so at no time in presentation can 
an actor or reader be without involuntary changes. 



CHAPTER XIII 



SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 



In the Play with Others. — At the very beginning 

of public work the student is sure to be nervous and 
painfully self-conscious. It is for that reason he 
should be given something to do which will enable 
him to forget himself as much as possible and will 
give him assurance that the audience is not contin- 
ually watching him. Putting him in the play with 
his classmates and letting him keep busy with little, 
natural actions while carrying on a normal dialogue 
is the best possible v/ay to get him accustomed to an 
audience. Here he is surrounded by the scene, actual 
properties, furniture, etc., and must put his whole 
attention to details of action with the properties, etc. 
He does not look at the audience, in fact he is told 
to ignore it utterly. He is to talk and act as if ignor- 
ant of the existence of an audience and thus half 
the cause for fear is taken away, for the looking at 
an audience and being always obliged to face it are 
two most disconcerting factors in appearing before 
the public. The actor may at times turn his back 
completely on the audience and while others are 
occupying the attention, he rests assured that he is 
not being criticized. Gradually all nervousness wears 
away and he does not mind being alone on the stage 
182 



STUDY 183 

in a soliloquy. It is not wise to give an eccentric 
character part to the timid student. Normal charac- 
ters in simple comedy afford the best material for the 
first work in acting. No dialects should be attempted 
for the student is not yet accustomed to relying on 
his motive and auditory imagery to such a degree 
that he will make a good imitation and reproduce the 
mood and atmosphere peculiar to the dialect. The 
student should first be taught to handle himself well 
on the stage. Then he may be put in a sketch where 
he is taught to handle others — to assist to a chair, to 
lift another person, to carry one, to embrace, to strug- 
gle (in wrestling or fighting) to fence, box, etc. In the 
play with others the student gains experience in all the 
technique of bearing, including poise and carriage. 
Every set of muscles is brought into play, and the 
kinesthetic sense developed to a marvelous degree. 
He learns how to handle a sword, a rifle, a newspaper, 
a letter ; how to conduct himself at a table ; how to do 
a thousand little things concerning which in actual life 
he might never take conscious thought for personal 
improvement. Here in the play he is made to observe 
closely the right and the wrong way of doing things. 
All this training can not fail to affect his bearing 
favorably so that when he begins to appear alone 
before audiences and the attention is centered at all 
times upon him, he will have confidence in himself 
and will not be subjected to the criticism that most 
readers bring upon themselves. 

Acting in the play with others, then, is the first 
step in training for public appearance whether upon 
the stage or upon the platform. 



i84 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

In the Soliloquy Alone. — Acting in the Soliloquy 
offers the first opportunity for the student to be alone 
on the stage and the center of uninterrupted attention 
on the part of the audience. He is still among realis- 
tic surroundings and is busy with minute action, but 
he has taken a short step toward suggestion in that 
his bearing must be tempered by a certain abstract- 
ness which is apparent when one is meditating. He 
must suggest meditation while in reality he is speak- 
ing aloud for the benefit of the audience. His moods 
are expressed with less reserve while in meditation 
than while conversing with others. All his action may 
be the same as it would be in the scene with others, 
but instead of completely ignoring his audience, he 
talks not to them but as though they were a part of 
his own mind conversing with itself. His eyes do 
not look at any one in the audience but stray absently 
out over the audience or are fixed unseeing on various 
objects in the scene. The constant attention of the 
audience helps bring the student into closer harmony 
with them, and, since in the play he has already over- 
come his nervousness, this new relationship to the 
audience does not disturb him in the least. The 
Soliloquy which is to be acted may be an excerpt from 
a play, or a soliloquy written expressly as a complete 
selection to be acted. It should be a normal character 
who speaks. Dialect or provincial speech should not 
yet be attempted. One of the best Acting Soliloquies 
for the student to take up at this time is Leland T. 
Powers' Pro and Con. Here there is opportunity for 
splendid expression of various moods while gazing 



STUDY 185 

abstractedly out into the audience — the young man's 
action with the gloves and the letter being seemingly 
unconscious. 

After the Acting Soliloquy, the student is ready to 
drop the realistic surroundings and leave them to 
the imagination of his audience, while he is concerned 
with action during meditation. 

The Soliloquy for Personating. — In taking up the 
work of personating, the student has stepped from the 
realm of the actor to that of the reader. Wherever 
he may entertain, special surroundings and stage 
accessories are unnecessary. The soliloquy which 
requires plenty of action but no properties or scene 
may be considered the "common ground" between the 
actor and the reader as far as the action itself is con- 
cerned. Great attention is paid to every accompany- 
ing mood (although the reader, of course, must not 
appear conscious of his movements) while meditating. 
The bearing of the reader in personating is the same 
as that of the actor, except that the reader will never 
allow himself to recline or turn his back completely 
on the audience. In pantomime, every motion is 
literal and his objective gesture must be accurate. 
When imaginary objects are handled the fingers and 
hands must correspond to the shape of the object, as 
for instance, in picking up an imaginary lighted 
candle, the speaker must see exactly the kind of can- 
dlestick he is holding and must know how his fingers 
would close around it. If it is the old-fashioned kind 
with a little ring-like handle, his fingers will hold a 
different position and his eyes will look for the 



i86 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

flame at a different paint above his hand. The only 
sure way of determining the correct position is to hold 
a real lighted candle for a moment and practise ob- 
serving the position and the feel of the candlestick 
in the fingers. Then after removing the candle the 
fingers should take the same position while the eyes 
focus at the point where the real flame was. The 
real candle in practice a few times will correct errors 
in pantomime due to imperfect kinesthetic and visual 
memory. In the final delivery of a personated solilo- 
quy, the exact pantomime, of course, is not absolutely 
essential, but for practice and the development of the 
kinesthetic sense, the student should endeavor to be 
exact. Another matter which must be kept in mind is 
the returning of the imagined object to its resting 
place before taking up another object. Since literal 
action means completed action, and since action must 
be complete in order to be realistic rather than sug- 
gestive, it is necessary to carry out every objective 
gesture to its close. If the candle is to be carried 
across the platform and deposited on an imaginary 
stand before a mirror while the speaker combs her 
hair in pantomime, the movement of picking up the 
brush and comb should not be made until the candle 
has been put down. If the student has properly vis- 
ualized the candle and feels it in her hand she will 
not forget, but if her action is mechanical she is liable 
to drop the candle in mid air in order to scratch her 
nose and then — presto! — the candle is back in her 
hand again. When she reaches her imaginary mirror, 
she picks up the comb and the candle is again forgot- 



STUDY 187 

ten. The teacher must watch carefully these appar- 
ently trivial details and help the student to keep 
consistent. 

By the time the student has had systematic train- 
ing in acting, both in the play and in the soliloquy, 
his kinesthetic imagery has developed so that it will 
begin to transfer auditory as well as visual impressions 
into a conscious imitative adjustment of the vocal 
cords and it is now comparatively easy to imitate an 
eccentric voice quality or the variations of pitch, force 
and time. He should not, however, depart just yet 
from the portrayal of normal characters in action. 

The Monologue for Personating. — What has been 
said regarding the study of the soliloquy for personat- 
ing applies the same way as far as the literal pan- 
tomime is concerned. There is in the monologue, 
however, an added appeal to the imagination in that 
the audience is required to imagine other characters 
in the scene. The subjective action of the reader here 
reflects the presence of the others, and his conversa- 
tion has definite direction instead of the abstraction 
in meditation. The eyes travel frequently to the spot 
where the other participants in the conversation are 
supposed to be. The pauses are accompanied by a 
listening attitude and a corresponding facial expres- 
sion showing response to the thought of the supposed 
speaker. The walking about is arranged so that the 
audience can see the reader's face at all times and 
every action is literally carried out except reclining. 
The other characters may be imagined to walk about 
through the simple trick on the part of the reader 



i88 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

who follows with his eyes the supposed movements 
of the imaginary characters. The monologue is dis- 
tinctly an advance toward suggestive art although its 
action is still realistic. The practice of the student 
at this point should enable him to attempt eccentricities 
of character in voluntary vocal change of quality, 
force, pitch and time, but he should not yet try defec- 
tive speech, provincial speech or dialect. 

Eccentric Address for Personating. — In the Ec- 
centric Address, the student for the first time directly 
addresses his audience, not in his own person but in 
the character he represents. He assumes his real 
audience to be a part of the scene and himself to be 
an eccentric person whose style of oratory is ridicu- 
lous and overdone. The student feeling himself in 
comedy character free to overdo or to burlesque speak- 
ing, is not afraid of criticism and therefore can face 
the audience without self-consciousness. In the pre- 
ceding steps the student has been gradually getting 
used to an audience and now, especially since he is not 
in serious mood, he will not feel embarrassment at 
directly addressing his audience. He will literally 
assume the character of an orator and will walk 
about, shout, wave his arms and overdo the delivery 
in whatever way the selection suggests. There may 
be no occasion for more than vocal and facial char- 
acterization, but since the circumstances of comedy 
oratory do not limit the action of the speaker, this 
type of selection is classed for the art of personating 
rather than for impersonative reading. There is very 
little opportunity for literal objective pantomime, but 



STUDY 189 

facial expression together with indicative and subjec- 
tive gesture as well as the bearing of the speaker may 
be literal. By this time the student is quite ready to 
assume voluntary peculiarities of speech and even 
dialects. This type of selection is not good for the 
student who is naturally prone to overdo his action, 
but it is excellent practice for the individual who is 
concentric and rather negative in disposition. 

The Character Series for Personating. — The Char- 
acter Series has been called the "common ground" 
for treatment by personating or impersonative reading 
because it may exploit eccentric characters in literal 
action throughout, or it may be confined to literalness 
in voice and facial expression only. Its value in the 
sequence of study lies first in the practice of a variety 
of eccentric characterizations embodied in one selec- 
tion, and second, in the now serious moments of the 
direct address to the audience. The teacher must 
make clear that the Character Series is not a reading 
in which characters converse with one another, but 
is merely a number of uninterrupted speeches or 
stories told formally or informally by several eccen- 
tric speakers to a supposed audience of two or more. 
The descriptive matter between speeches is given by 
the reader in his own person and to the real audience. 
This is the first time during his sequence of study that 
the student becomes HIMSELF during the rendition 
of a selection and talks directly to his audience. It is 
also the first time he assumes directly more than one 
character within a selection. There is here no need 
for sudden change from one character to another, for 



190 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

it is not conversation. The stories or speeches are not 
important in themselves. It was the author's intention 
to have a series of pecuHar characters portrayed and 
what they say is incidental. Here the student gains 
facility in becoming completely in voice as well as in 
action several different comedy characters in succes- 
sion. The fact that he is not required to make sudden 
changes back and forth enables him to go completely 
into the bodily action if he so desires. If the student 
is inclined to overdo his action, the teacher should 
require him to present this type of selection through 
impersonative reading. If he still needs practice in 
literal action, he should be required to walk about 
and do all that is needed for personating. 

The Character Soliloquy and the Character Mon- 
ologue for Impersonative Reading. — In this step the 
reader strives to perfect single characterizations in 
voice and facial expressions, paying no attention 
whatever to other literal action. Great attention is 
paid to the voluntary assumption of a vocal peculiarity 
and a corresponding peculiarity in facial expression 
involving fixed features or recurring mannerism. The 
Character Soliloquy applies the meditative mood to 
an eccentric character, and the Character Monologue 
directs the attention to a supposed listener, but the 
listener instead of being imagined with him upon the 
platform is indicated in front and a little to one side. 
The effect upon the audience is to picture the whole 
situation apart from the real platform and among 
any surroundings conceived at will by the imagination 
of the audience. Here is an opportunity for further 



STUDY 191 

practice in dialect and provincial characterizations in 
order to perfect the student's conception of atmos- 
phere and his adaptability to the peculiarities of 
speech mechanics. By the time he has worked out 
several characterizations painstakingly, the student is 
ready to take the next step toward suggestiveness in 
reading. 

The Character Play for Impersonative Reading. — 
The teacher in asking the student to prepare a scene 
from a Character Play should first see that the stage 
directions are properly arranged in descriptive form 
so that the pure dialogue of the play becomes like the 
descriptive dialogue of a narrative except that it is all 
kept in the present tense. The descriptive passages 
are given to the audience in direct address, and the 
conversations require abrupt change from character 
to character. All action except facial expression is 
suggestive and carriage is not considered, for the 
reader stands quietly in the center of the platform, 
never taking more than one step in any direction. 
Since it has become easy for the student to make 
voluntary changes in voice, and to assume feature 
characterizations, he is now called upon to make 
these changes suddenly and as suddenly return to 
his own person in direct address and description. He 
is thoroughly accustomed to his audience now and is 
never self-conscious. He can drop a character in- 
stantly and talk conversationally to his audience, or 
he can suggest pictures and scenes by a mere sug- 
gestive movement of the hand accompanying a word 
of description. His art has become highly suggestive. 



192 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

The Character Narrative for Impersonative Read- 
ing. — The Character Narrative offers a Httle more 
opportunity for pure narration and description inter- 
spersed among the conversations, and the student is 
more frequently himself before his audience than in 
the Character Play. The Narration is written in the 
past tense, so the reader is more in the position of 
story-teller than in direct address as in the play. All 
that has been said relative to the presentation, how- 
ever, applies the same in the Character Narrative as 
in the Character Play. The chief characters are ec- 
centric and require more realistic attention than nor- 
mal characters, but even those when supposed to 
carry on action are only represented in suggestive 
action. The reader must remember that he can not 
walk about or use a chair in any kind of selection that 
requires sudden transition from character to character 
or to description. When the reader drops into a de- 
scriptive passage he should look directly at his au- 
dience from time to time and picture his scene not 
with him upon the platform, but out beyond the 
audience and hack of it. The audience then sees the 
entire scene imaginatively and undisturbed by any 
limitations of the platform itself. 

Interpretative Readings Including Sub-forms for 
Pure Reading. — When the student enters upon pure 
reading he abandons all effort at realism and becomes 
wholly suggestive in mood and description. His vocal 
changes are involuntary and are the result of change 
in mood. Characters in conversation are distinguished 
either by their characteristic mood, or by mere ex- 



STUDY 193 

planation on the part of the reader. No attempt at 
Hteral characterization is made at any point. The 
student should study the best literature in the order 
of the Reading Soliloquy, The Reading Monologue, 
The Reading Play, The Descriptive Reading, The 
Narrative Reading, and The Lyric Reading. The 
Declamation, or serious speech, may be given as an 
Interpretative Reading with a good deaLof profit to 
the student, especially if he wishes to develop practical 
public speaking. Study of the declamation first, 
however, before he has had dramatic training or at 
least training in extempore oratory, often makes the 
student stiff and mechanical. Declamation on the 
whole is not practical, but may become worth while 
if taken up after a thorough course leading to Pure 
Reading. 

After the student has had systematic practice in 
selections in the order just explained, he is ready to 
present any kind of literature in a creditable manner 
for public approval. 

How to Work Out any Selection for Public Pre- 
sentation. — From the foregoing explanation of the 
way in which suggestive action develops from literal 
action, it follows that any selection to be given sug- 
gestively through pure reading can be rehearsed 
realistically with great profit to the reader. All the 
suggestive action can be made more surely suggestive 
to the imaginations of the audience, if the reader has 
freshened his kinesthetic imagery by realistic and 
complete action in practice. In preparing Thomas 
Bailey Aldrich's In an Atelier the reader will do well 



194 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

to pantomime carefully and literally all the move- 
ments of the painter, as he paints, scrutinizes his 
model, measures distances, and mixes colors. He 
should visualize the canvas on the easel, the palette 
with its different colors, the brushes, and the girl in 
her queen's costume sitting as his model. In carrying 
on the implied dialogue he glances from time to time 
to her and back to his work. Later he gradually 
loses interest in the work and centers his attention 
upon the girl. At last he puts his brushes away and 
devotes his whole attention to her. Going over the 
selection a few times as a personated monologue, mak- 
ing action the most important feature, gives the stu- 
dent the exact atmosphere of the situation and enables 
him to feel in his muscles the little movements that 
realistically accompany his lines. Later he will put 
more attention to the mood and will merely show the 
various impulses of movement which will be manifest 
in the initial motions and accents suggestive of the 
whole situation. The selection is readily classified as 
a reading monologue, with mood alone essential so 
that in presenting the selection publicly the reader 
knows it requires only suggestive action and involun- 
tary vocal changes. 

There are many selections obviously suitable for 
pure reading only, but they need practice in literal 
action in order that the resulting suggestive action 
may be more powerful. Sometimes it is even wise 
to go back to acting in order to get the situation and 
atmosphere more thoroughly in mind. In presenting 
The Soul of the Violin, it is often necessary in prac- 



STUDY 195 

tice to have the student handle a real violin a few 
times in order that his body may realize the feel of it 
and the different impulses for movement that are to 
be suggested. Of course, for public presentation the 
selection should not be personated, for it is a Narra- 
tive Reading, demanding only the expression of a 
wonderful mood which can be powerfully suggested, 
if the reader has tried to practise realistically the 
action of the old man in the situation. 

In preparing monologues for personating, it is fre- 
quently necessary to use the actual properties for a 
time in order to get the objective pantomime consist- 
ent with the form of the objects to be suggested. In 
order that the student may pantomime reading a letter 
and turning a page, he may first use a real letter and 
note carefully just what he does with his hands and 
where his eyes focus. Later the pantomime will be 
so literal that the audience will easily Imagine the 
presence of the letter. 



CHAPTER XIV 

CHOICE OF SELECTION 

The Student's Difficulty. — One of the great trials 
in the course of study is the finding of selections suit- 
able for public presentation. The teacher who makes 
a practice of picking out the selections for his pupils, 
is depriving the student of a valuable bit of training, 
and is at the same time unnecessarily burdening him- 
self. The student should be taught to select his own 
material right from the beginning. It is a mistake 
for him to start out depending upon his teacher and 
it is a bigger mistake for the teacher to encourage this 
dependence. The teacher should stand ready to sug- 
gest and give general instructions as to what type 
of selections will be best at different stages in the 
student's development ; he should see to it that all 
selections chosen are not beyond the student's grasp, 
and are in good taste, for good taste is a quality often 
lacking in the average beginner; he should be ready 
to assist in abridging, or cutting selections to be given, 
but he should make the student do most of the work 
himself; and finally he should insist that the student 
take time and care in making his choice. So many 
students get discouraged after reading half an hour 
in the library and so take up the selection that looks 
as if it "might do." Then after working on a selec- 

196 



STUDY 197 

tion, more often than not they become tired of it and 
wish they had selected something else. A great deal 
of time is wasted in working out selections that were 
chosen hastily. The teacher should impress upon his 
pupils the importance of hard study in choosing 
pieces — to say nothing of the work of memorizing 
and preparation for delivery. It is safe to say that 
at least one-third of the time to be put on preparation 
should be devoted to looking over material for choice. 
"What kind of piece do I want?" is the query that 
overshadows the enthusiasm of the beginner when he 
is told to go to the library and select the first piece 
that is to be prepared for a public recital. If the 
teacher has already suggested a number of sources, 
the student after a hasty search is likely to return dis- 
couraged and report that everything he read was too 
old or else something he didn't like. Won't the 
teacher please tell him something to learn, and he'll 
learn it whether he likes it or not ! Here is w^here the 
teacher must remain firm. Good counsel may be 
given on how to search out material and advice con- 
cerning new and old selections offered, but he should 
not yield to the entreaty and allow the student to shift 
such an important responsibility. A splendid incen- 
tive toward diligent search for suitable material is 
the prospect of a public recital. If the student is 
advised to choose his selections with a view to making 
up an evening's program, he will have a definite 
purpose which will aid him in determining the differ- 
ent types he will need for variety and balance. He 
will unconsciously bear in mind an audience and as 



198 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

he is searching he will choose what he thinks will 
entertain it. He will visualize the selection as he sees 
in imagination its effect on his hearers. 

New Selections or Old. — Many students are afraid 
to chose anything that has been given before, and 
they waste hours and hours of time in looking for 
something they have never heard given. While it is 
commendable to be always on the lookout for new 
material, yet the old should not be entirely neglected. 
An old piece of literature may give continued enjoy- 
ment to an audience, just as an old piece of music 
may be given over and over again with increasing 
delight. The wedding march from Lohengrin, or 
from Mendelssohn's Mid-Summer Night's Dream will 
never grow old, and when played by an artist is always 
enjoyed. Why should not good literature be given 
over and over again? The teacher should impress 
upon the student the value of some of the old read- 
ings. It is true that there are thousands of selec- 
tions which are no longer entertaining because they 
have been overworked, but a piece of real literature 
can never lose its power when presented by a master. 

The entertainer must not, of course, rely wholly 
on old literature, even if it is classic. He must be on 
the watch for new material to present with the old. 
Publishers of Choice Selections, Best Readings, 
Speakers, etc., are constantly adding to their volumes, 
but of course the student must not rely wholly upon 
these works. He should learn to make his own 
cuttings and read constantly with a view to adapta- 
tion for reading". 



STUDY 199 

Where to Find New Material. — One of the indis- 
pensable books for the school library is Granger's 
Guide to Recitation and Poetry, published by A. C. 
McClurg & Company. This book gives the title of 
all popular readings, monologue, etc., that have been 
published for public presentation up to a very recent 
date and also gives the sources for finding the selec- 
tions. 

In searching for new material, the student can do 
no better than keep up a regular acquaintance with 
the best magazines and story periodicals, for in these 
he gold mines of unadapted material needing only the 
sifting and washing process to prepare it for the eager 
market. The student must learn to recognize suitable 
selections and to know how to abridge and adapt them 
for the platform. Not only are the current magazines 
a fruitful field for research, but modern books and 
plays offer chapters and scenes that may be quite as 
entertaining as the short story. 

Hov7 to Recognize Good Material for Adaptation. 
— The task of finding new and original material for 
public reading would seem unjustly burdensome if 
it were necessary for the student to read thoroughly 
everything he sees in order to determine its fitness. 
An immense amount of material may be glanced over, 
but only that which passes the first test of hasty in- 
spection should be laid aside for careful reading. 
There may be three stages of inspection which will 
aid the student in narrowing down his material. The 
first stage is merely glancing through the pages of a 
magazine, reading the title and noticing whether there 



200 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

seems to be plenty of conversation. If the page pre- 
sents too many * 'solid" paragraphs, the article may be 
discarded at once, unless the student is looking for 
a descriptive reading. The page that is broken up into 
frequent conversations shows a point in favor of 
adaptation. If the title suggests animation, humor, 
uncertainty, similarity, antagonism, or affairs of life 
and death, the student will do well to apply the second 
test, namely, to read the first two paragraphs together 
with a paragraph in the middle and the concluding 
paragraph to see if the story holds interest and pre- 
sents a suitable climax for a public reading. If this 
test succeeds, the selection should be read carefully 
from beginning to end, keeping in mind the necessity 
for consistency in maintaining the factors of interest. 
According to Mr. Arthur Phillips in Effective Speak- 
ing the factors of interest are: the vital, the unusual, 
the uncertain, the concrete, the similar, the antagonis- 
tic, and the animate. A story to be really entertaining 
must embody one or more of these factors : it must 
deal with matters of life and death ; with unusual 
situations out of which grows the humorous selection ; 
with events and situations whose outcome is uncer- 
tain — the mystery story ; with a concrete rather than 
abstract, scientific, or philosophical subject; with ex- 
periences familiar to every one; with contending 
forces ; or with rapid, invigorating motion. Stories 
that appeal to the reader at once as intensely gripping, 
with plenty of conversation and movement, or stories 
of deep sympathy and sentiment, afford much oppor- 
tunity for adaptation for public reading. After the 



STUDY 201 

student has applied his three tests and has read the 
selection once aloud to visualize the pictures and 
determine the effect the voice produces, at the same 
time imagining the effect it would have on an audience, 
he is ready to "cut," or abridge it for public use. 

Cutting the Selection. — Much that is written pri- 
marily for silent reading may be omitted when given 
orally with the added expression of action and vocal 
change. Long descriptive passages may be reduced to 
a sentence, or rewritten in two or three crisp para- 
graphs. A great deal of the descriptive dialogue (the 
"he said," "said she, smiling" and the "answered 
Mary, as she put her hand over her heart," etc.), may 
be dispensed with, for the reader himself may suggest 
the action or the characters without making the de- 
scription necessary. The teacher with his superior 
judgment and experience should assist the pupil in 
cutting all unnecessary parts of the story and such 
parts of the conversation as may be omitted without 
injuring the plot or the continuity of the theme. In 
a short time the student will be able to do his own 
cutting with very little suggestion from the teacher. 
He will soon comprehend the significance of certain 
passages of description compared to the triviality of 
others. He will seem to know intuitively where to 
retain the "he said" and "said she" and where it would 
be wise to omit them. Practice and observation will 
develop judgment and a critical standard in viewing 
one's own work, so that the pupil may soon become 
independent of the teacher. Self-reliance in choosing 
and cutting selections should be encouraged by the 



202 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

teacher at the very beginning. A teacher who does 
not present principles on which a student may become 
his own critic is a mere "coach" — not a teacher. 

Preparing the Selection for Delivery. — The selec- 
tion having been chosen and arranged for public 
reading, the question of how to prepare it next arises. 
** Shall I give it from memory or shall I read it from 
the manuscript with a desk before me?" says the 
student. At, this point there seems to be diversity of 
opinion. Some teachers never encourage memorizing 
and others insist upon it. Some hold the opinion that 
to present a reading from memory is to descend to 
the plane of vaudeville, and that reading from the 
page is the only dignified way of presenting literature. 
Others maintain that no reading from the page can be 
as powerful or as impressive as reading from mem- 
ory; that the reading from the page detracts from 
the interest of the audience and gives the impression 
that the reader is too lazy to memorize. There seems 
to be no common ground for argument. In fact, it can 
be shown that there is a place for both ways of pre- 
senting literature and that either way can be made 
artistic. It is obvious that acting or personating can 
be given in no other way than from memory, but im- 
personative reading and pure reading (since no walk- 
ing about nor literal action is required) may be given 
at the desk and with the manuscript. The greater 
part of literature suitable for a reader is of the type 
requiring either pure reading or impersonative read- 
ing, so the question of using the manuscript arises at 
the point where the student finds himself able to read 



STUDY 203 

as suggestively and with apparently as powerful an 
effect with the book before him. He sees at once 
that he can have a much wider repertoire and that 
the suggestions he gives are not hindered by the 
presence of the book. Upon experiment he is told by 
his audiences that they were not even conscious of 
the book ; that the story was as vivid as if it had been 
witnessed on the stage. This commendation of the 
artist's work may be perfectly sincere, but at the same 
time it may be misleading to the student of reading. 
To be able to read masterfully from the page to a 
public audience is an ideal worthy of great effort, but 
the student must not be in too much of a hurry to put 
it into practice. Artistic reading from the page is 
difficult of attainment and can not be accomplished 
with any degree of success until the student has had 
years of practice in memory presentation. To read 
publicly from the page requires the ability to take in 
at a glance whole paragraphs. It presupposes such a 
familiarity with the lines that they could almost be 
said to be memorized. The work of preparation is 
almost as exacting as if the selection were memorized, 
except that the emphasis is put on mood and charac- 
terization rather than on the mechanics of memory. 
The student puts the extra amount of time that would 
otherwise be occupied in the drudgery of memorizing 
in perfecting his characterizations and making vivid 
his atmospheres. When the reader has accomplished 
the art of reading publicly from the page, there is a 
distinct advantage in this mode of presentation. We 
shall conclude, therefore, that the teacher should in- 



204 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

sist upon his pupils memorizing for public presenta- 
tion until they have acquired the fine art of reading 
from the page. 

"How to memorize" is the next question that arises 
in the preparation of a selection for public reading. 

Professor J. S. Gaylord in an article published by 
the National Association of Speech Education has of- 
fered an admirable method of procedure which we 
shall not take the time to quote here. Assuming that 
the student has already been made acquainted with the 
principles, we shall merely add a statement or two 
which may be applied to any good method of memor- 
izing. The teacher can not be too careful in caution- 
ing the student against slip-shod memorizing or the 
old "conning by rote" method and mechanical line by 
line study. If the student has been properly trained 
in the principles of grouping, group sequence, group 
values, motives, etc., he will intuitively memorize the 
ideas rather than the words. His greatest trouble 
will be in memorizing the transitions, or associating 
the last line of one paragraph with the first line of 
the next. Here he will have to form deliberately some 
mental picture or association that recalls the new 
paragraph immediately upon speaking the last line of 
the preceding paragraph. Then, he must repeat the 
two lines several times as he visualizes his picture until 
they become inseparable. It is rarely within the body 
of a paragraph that the memory fails if it has been 
associating ideas rather than words. 

The student should stand by desk and book and 
work over his selection aloud just as he hopes to give 



STUDY 205 

it publicly after discarding the manuscript. He should 
have his body free for suggestive action which will 
gradually manifest itself as the moods become more 
and more a part of the reader. Besides gaining val- 
uable practice in reading from the page he is memor- 
izing more rapidly and surely, because he is forming 
more complete associations. To sit down and mum- 
ble over the lines of a selection is not only a slow way 
of memorizing but a harmful way, because it separates 
the lines from their attendant action and creates men- 
tal impressions that have to be changed when final 
preparation comes. Imagining an audience every 
time the selection is read over helps the student to vis- 
ualize every situation and put his best effort into the 
interpretation. The selection should be read from 
beginning to end a number of times in order to get a 
complete idea of it as a unit. The single paragraph 
should not be committed until the entire selection is 
practically memorized. Then the student may take 
weak paragraphs — or those which seem more difficult 
to fix exactly in mind and work over them separately 
until the difficulty is overcome, but he should never 
learn a selection page by page or paragraph by para- 
graph. 

The teacher should remind the student during his 
practice that he is not to visualize the scene or the 
characters on the platform with him, but should always 
see the scene and the characters with whom he con- 
verses in front of him and a little to one side. The 
reader will look at his audience in giving the descrip- 
tive parts, and when assuming characters he should 



2o6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

place them in his own imagination just a little to the 
right and left of an assumed straight line extending 
in front of him out through the center of his audience. 
He need never imagine more than two at a time, but 
he should always visualize the one to whom he is 
speaking, reserving his kinesthetic imagery and audi- 
tory imagery for the character he is assuming. When 
he shifts to the other characters he merely directs his 
attention slightly to the other side of the center line 
and visualizes the character who the instant before 
was speaking but who now is the listener. Care 
should be taken not to make the angle too wide. Just 
a slight turn from left to right and back to left is suffi- 
cient to suggest the opposition of two people in con- 
versation. If the situation demands one person ad- 
dressing at the same time two people, the speaker looks 
from right to left while sustaining the mood and 
attitude of the speaker. Then when another speaks, 
the change may be indicated by a change of mood 
and attitude or by a word of description. When there 
are more than three concerned in the conversation, 
the speaker in addressing them all visualizes them 
scattered about in front of him and on a level with him. 
Any two of them in rapid conversation will demand a 
slight turn from left to right, etc. Bits of description 
also aid in keeping the characters distinct. There 
should be no attempt in portraying normal characters, 
to distinguish by peculiarity of feature or action. Pure 
reading means to suggest. 

All that has been said about preparing the selec- 
tion pertains to both the character reading and the 



STUDY 207 

interpretative reading. The method of learning a per.- 
sonation is necessarily different. Since action is more 
important here than the subject-matter, the reader, 
after the first few readings from beginning to end, 
may profitably work out his action paragraph by 
paragraph, learning the lines as he proceeds, at first 
with the manuscript in his hand, and later, as he 
develops detailed action, laying the book aside and 
referring to it as he needs. He must, however, work 
longer on the selection than is necessary on a reading 
after he has committed it perfectly in order to adjust 
all action with the lines and make easy transitions. 
In working over a personation, he should remember 
that the scene is imagined upon the platform with him, 
so in speaking to an assumed character he will turn 
so that the audience can imagine the other character 
standing there with him. In a reading (whether a 
character reading or an interpretative reading) the 
characters are not imagined on the platform at all. 



CHAPTER XV 

CHOICE OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 

Introductory. — When the student has completed 
a thorough preliminary course and has acquired an 
understanding of the breadth of the field of expression, 
he will instinctively make a choice of profession ac- 
cording to the particular phase of the work to which 
he takes an especial liking. If he is practical rather 
than artistic, he will naturally wish to develop along 
the lines of original public speaking and will be in- 
clined to thrust aside any suggestion of dramatic 
work, as unnecessary and sentimental. If he is artis- 
tic, his taste will point either to acting or to public 
reading and he in turn may be inclined to disparage 
the original public speaking as unnecessary to the ac- 
complishment of his histrionic ambition. The teacher 
should make clear that any branch of the field is 
helpful to the development of the others. The most 
intensive study, of course, will finally be directed to 
the technique of the field one is to make his profes- 
sion. The man who wishes to use his powers of 
expression in a practical way, as a lawyer, teacher, 
or salesman, can have no better preparation than a 
course in acting followed by one in public reading, 
taking them up in a more general way than his final 
course in public speaking which should be studied 

208 



STUDY 209 

intensively, placing emphasis on extempore oratory 
and debating. The artist, on the other hand, parallel 
with his intensive study of acting or reading, should 
take up a general course in extempore speech and 
debating. 

Suggested Course for the Actor. — He who aspires 
to be an actor is permitted the great joy of plunging 
at once into his chosen work, but he will have the 
lesser joy later, of departing from it for a time in 
order to take up the work of the reader, and the 
arduous work of making speeches and debating. Be- 
cause acting, as we have shown, comes logically before 
reading, it is taken up by the student first as a prepara- 
tion for reading. Later he goes back to acting for his 
intensive and permanent study in more difficult roles. 
His work in reading will have given him experience 
in suggestion and in creating subtle impressions upon 
the minds of his audience, so that when he goes back 
to his larger field of acting, his work will have a 
finish and culture rarely found in any except the most 
well-known Shakespearian or classical actors, and 
among those who have achieved world wide fame in 
our most literary modern plays. Along with his 
first work in acting the student should take a good 
course in the forms of public address and in argu- 
mentation and debating. These courses do more 
toward making him master of his audience than any 
other work he can take. Debating develops his logic 
and his judgment, it teaches him to think quickly and 
accurately while before an audience, and above all it 
builds for his interpretative work a common sense 



210 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

foundation that lifts it into the reahii of true art free 
from hyper-emotionalism and "barnstorming'' senti- 
mentahty. The next step in the student's cuhurc 
should be a study of personating-, followed by imper- 
sonative reading, and later by pure reading. After 
broad rather than intensive study of the reader's field, 
the student who chooses acting as his profession will 
take up the more technical phases and work up roles 
in serious drama and tragedy. 

A brief summary of the sequence of courses lead- 
ing to the actor's profession would be: Preliminary 
Courses, Acting (simple comedy and farce) together 
with Public Speaking and Argumentation ; Personat- 
ing and Impersonative Reading; Pure Reading and 
finally intensive study of acting in the serious Drama 
and Tragedy. 

Suggested Course for the Reader. — The sequence 
of courses for the reader is the same as for the actor, 
but the intensive study begins with Impersonative 
Reading, and continues through Pure Reading, broad- 
ening and developing the larger suggestiveness and 
the ability to read artistically from the printed page 
for public entertainment. The Reader does not go 
back to an intensive study of acting, but devotes his 
finishing culture to Pure Reading. 

Suggested Course for the Public Speaker. — Since 
the practical business man has little inclination for 
fine art, it may be difficult to persuade him to take up 
courses in Acting and Reading as a foundation for 
original public speech. He will want to plunge at 
once Into declamation or some type of speech making 



STUDY 211 

that shows promise of developing him along practical 
lines. He thinks that the preliminary courses in physi- 
cal culture and speech mechanics are surely all that is 
necessary to launch him into his regular field. The 
tactful teacher will explain that a study of human 
nature is particularly essential to the practical busi- 
ness man and that no subject offers a better study of 
varying moods and their accompanying outward ex- 
pression than dramatic art. He will show that prac- 
tice in action and the literal assuming of different 
types will aid in recognizing the types when he meets 
them in business life. Of course the practical man is 
usually inartistic, so the teacher should not attempt to 
make an artist of him. He can only give the necessary 
opportunity for the student to get a general develop- 
ment in that direction so that it may be of use to him 
indirectly when he takes up extempore and impromptu 
speaking, argument and debate, salesmanship and 
promoting, in his intensive study. Dramatic work is 
helpful as a foundation for any profession for it 
teaches the student adaptability and gives him keener 
judgment of human nature. He can not take a course 
in acting without increasing his kinesthetic develop- 
ment and he can not work at reading for any length 
of time without developing a finer sense of values 
through his cultivation of suggestion. The teacher 
should therefore strongly urge the sequence of study 
suggested, for the development is based on sound 
psychology and experiment has shown reliable results. 
A Word about the Preliminary Courses. — Before 
leaving the subject of suggested courses it may be well 



212 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

to explain the nature of Preliminary Courses neces- 
sary as a foundation to any proper development along 
professional lines. 

A good course in physical instruction including 
calesthenics and esthetic culture should coordinate 
with a course in speech mechanics and voice culture 
as the beginning of every student's work in oral ex- 
pression. 

Following this course the student should have daily 
drill in common reading from the printed page: he 
should learn the principles of grouping, group se- 
quence, denotation, connotation, etc., so that his read- 
ing may be intelligent without being cold and me- 
chanically precise. 

A third course immediately preparatory to Acting 
and Reading may profitably consist in practice in com- 
]iion reading in such well known classics as The 
Christmas Carol, Julius Cccsar and Enoch Ard en or 
Evangeline. At this point the student ought to be 
ready to start his public program work in the course 
of acting. 

When the course in acting, personating, impersona- 
tive reading and pure reading is begun, the work of 
practical public speaking should be started and carried 
on parallel to the dramatic work, the extempore speak- 
ing and the practice in different types of original oral 
composition preceding the work in oral debate. 

THE END 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

Definition of Class Types. — It is assumed that the 
student is already familiar with the underlying princi- 
ples of elocution including a knowledge of the vocal 
elements, quality, force, pitch and time, and the neces- 
sary fundamental laws of action, so the definitions as 
set forth in the Appendix may be accepted merely as 
an aid to a clearer understanding of the more technical 
classifications offered in the book. 
(i.) The Artists Defined, The actor is trained to 
assume realistically during the entire time he is in 
view of the audience a single character in appropriate 
make-up and costume, surrounded by scenery repre- 
senting the background, or setting of the play, and 
assisted by stage properties, furniture, lighting effects, 
and all the paraphernalia necessary to a realistic per- 
formance. He works with fellow actors also appro- 
priately costumed. His art, acting, is the only art 
that allows more than one actual participant. He 
may be alone on the stage in soliloquy or he may be 
with any number who are engaged with him in dialogue 
and action. The actor always speaks his lines from 
memory. 

The reader is trained to assume more or less sug- 
gestively one or many characters during the time he 
is in view of his audience. His province is not the 
stage but the platform. He is not assisted by make- 

215 



2i6 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

up, costumes or stage effects but appears on the plat- 
form in conventional attire. The reader may speak 
his lines from memory or from a manuscript upon a 
desk before him. 

(2.) The Arts Defined. Elocution is the general 
term used to include all forms of public or private 
speech in which voice and action are employed. 

Acting refers to that type of art by which one or 
more persons in appropriate costumes and make-up 
and with special properties, stage furniture and scen- 
ery, present realistically a piece of dramatic literature. 

Reading is a general term representing the art hf^ 
which one person on the public platform without 
make-up, special costume, properties or any stage ac- 
cessories presents more or less realistically any piece 
of literature. This term includes Personating, Imper- 
sonative Reading and Pure Reading. 

Personating is that form of reading, here arbitra- 
rily used to designate the art of characterization with- 
out the aid of make-up, properties, etc., but with literal 
action throughout, presenting more realistically than 
suggestively a certain form of literature which re- 
quires uninterrupted speech on the part of a single 
character. In this form of reading the use of proper- 
ties, etc., is not only unnecessary but inconsistent and 
confusing to the audience. 

Impersonative reading is that form of reading in 
which literal action is not essential except in facial 
expression, and in which voluntary vocal adaptation 
and facial characterization are of primary importance 
for the presentation of eccentric or comedy characters. 



APPENDIX 217 

This type may be regarded as the "common ground" 
between personating and pure reading. The use of 
properties in this kind of delivery would be a hin- 
drance. Here the reader may assume one or many 
characters in conversation. 

Pure reading is that form of reading which is 
purely suggestive of characterization, merely reflect- 
ing the mood of normal characters or describing 
events and situations which occur in ordinary narra- 
tion and description or in lyric composition. Here the 
reader may assume one or several normal characters 
in conversation. The use of properties in pure read- 
ing is uncomplimentary to the audience. 
(3-) Types of Literature Defined. The play is a 
dramatic composition written in pure dialogue form 
in which two or more characters are to be literally 
represented in appropriate make-up and costume and 
realistic surroundings consistent with the plot. It 
is intended primarily for acting and when so presented 
must involve literal action throughout with all neces- 
sary properties and with attention to the minutest 
detail for realistic effect. When the Play is to be 
presented by a reader and not by a company of actors, 
the form of its composition must be changed from 
pure dialogue to descriptive dialogue and it is then 
called The Character Play or The Reading Play 
according to essential qualifications already discussed. 

The soliloquy is a composition written in the first 
person representing a single character in meditation, 
or talking to himself. No other characters are sup- 
posed to be present at any time during the speech. 



2i8 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

(This statement may not always apply to the soliloquy 
within the Play). The Soliloquy is written for acting 
and it v/ill be recognized as such by the apparent 
necessity for costume, scenery or special properties. 
If these accessories are obviously not essential, then 
the selection is intended for the reader and not the 
actor and it will be classed as a Personated Soliloquy, 
Character Soliloquy or Reading Soliloquy according 
to the evident purpose of its author. 

The personation is a composition in the first per- 
son written in any one of the three literary forms, 
soliloquy, implied dialogue, or direct address. The 
public platform, not the stage, is the place for the 
Personation. Here literal action is of first impor- 
tance, while costumes, properties, etc., are out of 
place. The Personation includes four types: The 
Personated Soliloquy, the Monologue, the Eccentric 
Address, and the Character Series, 

The character reading is composition written in 
first or third person and in any one of the three liter- 
ary forms, soliloquy, implied dialogue or descriptive 
dialogue. The Character Reading requires eccentric 
or comedy characterization in voluntary vocal change 
and facial expression, but does not require literal ac- 
tion or prolonged attention to imaginary objects. 
There are four types of the Character Reading: The 
Character Soliloquy, the Character Monologue, the 
Character Play, and the Character Narrative. 

The interpretative reading is that class of com- 
position written in first or third person in which the 
expression of mood and atmosphere is all that should 



APPENDIX 219 

claim the reader's attention. No literal action or ec- 
centric characterization is required. The thought and 
emotion of each character and the atmosphere of the 
narration and description must be the whole aim of 
the reader here. The Interpretive Reading may take 
the form of soliloquy, implied dialogue, descriptive 
dialogue, description, pure narration, direct address, 
or lyric composition. As sub-forms of the Interpre- 
tive Reading they are known respectively as the Read- 
ing Soliloquy, the Reading Monologue, the Reading 
Play, the Descriptive Reading, the Narrative Read- 
ing, the Declamation and the Lyric Reading. 

Unclassified forms are those selections wdiich are 
purely for show or burlesque entertainment such as 
Vaudeville Stunts, Character Sketches in Costume 
and Make-up, and Ventriloquial Stunts. These forms 
do not come under legitimate classification as art. 
They require mechanical skill rather than artistic 
achievement. 

Definition of Voice and Action.* — Since Elocution 
is expression of thought and emotion by means of voice 
and action, it will be necessary to determine exactly 
what is meant by these terms and how they are sub- 
divided. 

The term Acting must not be confused with the 
term Action. 

Action refers to any bodily expression (except 
vocal expression) whether in repose or in motion. 
It includes Pantomime and Bearing and is also given 



*See Figure C, in the Introduction. 



220 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

a separate classification from the view-point of literal- 
ness and suggestiveness. It should be understood 
that all action as classified under Pantomime and 
Bearing may be either literal or suggestive according 
to the requirements of the selection to be presented. 
(i.) Action Defined According to Bodily Zones. 
Bearing has to do with Carnage, or general bodily 
motion, and with Poise, or stationary position and at- 
titude. 

Pantomime has to do with Facial Expression and 
with Gesture (head, hand, arm, leg and foot). 

Carriage is the Gait, or walk, run, hop, skip, jump, 
lope, or stride, of an individual ; the Reciprocal Move- 
ments (head, shoulders, arms, etc.), and Other Bodily 
Movements, such as the acts of sitting, rising, reclin- 
ing, falling or kneeling. 

Poise is the stationary attitude of the body whether 
in standing, sitting or reclining position. 

Facial expression has to do first, with manifesta- 
tion of mood in Subjective facial expression, show- 
ing fear, delight, love, hate, anger, perplexity and all 
the various shades of thought and emotion. Second, 
it has to do with eccentric characterization in Feature 
Movements, such as motions of the jaw, tongue and 
teeth in biting and chewing or pursing the lips in 
kissing, etc. ; in Fixed Features which have to do 
with the holding of a particular expression such as a 
prominent jaw, a stiff upper lip, a peculiar twist of 
the mouth, a closed eye or a lifted eyebrow through- 
out the characterization ; and in Recurring Manner- 
isms, or habitual facial movements such as the twitch- 



APPENDIX 221 

ing of the lips, the bhnking of the eyes, the wrinkHng 
of the forehead or the nose, and movements of the 
tongue in the cheek. 

Gesture, having to do with the movements of the 
head, hands and the limbs, may be classified under 
three divisions : Objective Gesture, or that which is 
concerned with the handling of objects, real or imagin- 
ary ; Indicative Gesture which indicates objects at a 
distance or points out directions, dimensions and pro- 
portions, and Subjective Gesture which is inseparably 
associated with Subjective Facial Expression, both of 
which indicate condition of being, or expression of mood, 
and demand mutual coordination of all bodily agents. 
(2.) Action Defined According to its Literalness and 
Suggestiveness. Now that Action has been defined 
and classified according to the different zones of ex- 
pression in relation to mood and to external objects, 
the entire classification may be applied in either of 
two ways ; through literal action or through sugges- 
tive action. 

Literal action refers to completed movements in 
Pantomime or Bearing and demands minute attention 
to detail. It is the kind of action required in Acting 
and in Personating when referring to objects real or 
imaginary or when expressing a mood. The key-note 
of literal action is completion of movement. 

Suggestive action on the other hand refers to the 
initial movement of Pantomime or Bearing sufficient 
to stimulate the imagination of the beholder to com- 
plete in his own mind the action thus suggested. It is 
the kind of action required in pure reading. 



222 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

(3-) Voice Defined. Voice, or Vocal Expression, 
refers to the voluntary and involuntary changes of 
the voice either in the mechanics of speech or in the 
expression of language. 

Involuntary vocal changes are those infinite 
shades of color in tone brought about spontaneously 
by the action of the mood (either mental or emotional) 
in the unconscious use of Quality, Force, Pitch and 
Time. This change of voice runs through all types 
of delivery for MOOD is the basis for all true ex- 
pression. 

Voluntary vocal changes are the changes con- 
sciously effected for the purpose of eccentric or com- 
edy characterizations. These changes are brought 
about by a purposeful imitation of Dialects, Local or 
Provincial Mannerisms of the voice, Defective Speech, 
such as lisping, stuttering, stammering, false articula- 
tions, etc., and through conscious changes of Quality, 
Force, Pitch and Time. 

Definition of Forms of Composition. — Soliloquy 
is that form of composition used to give utterance to 
the suggestion of meditative thought. In real life 
meditation is rarely expressed aloud, but for story 
and stage purposes such expression is given oral form 
and when rendered from the stage or platform gives 
the impression of "one talking to himself." It is 
written in the first person and in present tense situa- 
tion. 

Implied dialogue is that form of composition 
found in the Monologue which offers but one side of 
a supposed conversation, leaving the other side to the 



APPENDIX 223 

imagination of the audience. It is always in first 
person and in present tense situation. 

Pure dialogue is the formal dialogue found only 
in the Play. It consists of present tense dialogue 
and detached parenthetical phrases indicating the ac- 
tion of the play together with other explanations not 
meant for public expression. 

Descriptive dialogue consists of conversational 
lines in narration written in either the first or third 
person, and in the past tense wherever bits of descrip- 
tion occur. These explanatory phrases are inseparably 
connected with the dialogue, for example, " *Bah ! 
Plumbug!' said Scrooge, and, finding nothing more 
expressive to say, said again, 'Humbug !' " The pure 
dialogue of the play is often changed by the reader to 
descriptive dialogue by rephrasing some of the de- 
tached stage directions which are read descriptively 
along with the dialogue of the play, keeping the de- 
scription in the present tense, however, instead of in 
the past tense as in narration. 

Direct address is the form of composition directed 
straight at an audience, and is found only in speeches, 
orations, debates, didactic addresses and sermons. 

Narration is composition which tells a story. It 
may contain conversation in descriptive dialogue or be 
pure narration without conversation. It may be writ- 
ten in first or third person but is always in past tense. 

Description is composition which describes vividly 
a scene, an event, or a person without including the 
narrative feature. It is generally written in the past 
tense but may be written in the present. 



224 DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION 

Lyric composition is idealistic poetry in first or 
third person which expresses a universal thought or 
emotion in one crystallized moment of time. It is the 
most suggestive and imaginative type of composition 
and may include any of the above forms. 

Definition of Mood and Atmosphere. — Mood is 
the mental or emotional condition of a person. 

Atmosphere is the mental or emotional state of 
environment. It is the result of mood or a combina- 
tion of moods, and may be suggested to an audience 
by the reader's mood independent of the moods of his 
characters. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2007 

PreservationTechnologies 

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